(Minghui.org) My name is Chen Xiulan and I am 77 years old. My family and I have been repeatedly persecuted because we were steadfast in our belief in Falun Gong. This is a story of the persecution that my family has suffered.
I am originally from Unit No. 102 at Nongliushi, Xinjiang. I now live in Urumqi City, Xinjiang. I was illegally sentenced to five years in 2008 and detained at the No. 2 Women's Prison in Xinjiang.
My eldest daughter, Ms. Sheng Yonghong, 51, gave a local official in Urumqi City a letter at the end of November 2011, explaining the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution, and encouraged him to treat practitioners well.
The Shayibake District Domestic Security then illegally arrested and detained her in a forced labor camp for one year and nine months. On the eve of her release, the director sentenced her to five years of forced labor on May 5, 2012. I was still in the No. 2 Women's Prison in Xinjiang at the time, where she was then detained and is now being persecuted at.
The suffering was too great for my husband, Mr. Sheng Kezhi, to handle and he died on February 7, 2012.
Started Practicing Falun Gong in May 1996
My husband, who was 77 at the time, and I started practicing Falun Gong in May 1996. Our physical and mental health improved significantly. My husband had been a sickly person and had a bad temperament. He couldn't tolerate others' opinions if they didn't agree with his. His disposition improved and he was no longer irritable after he became a practitioner, and his illnesses disappeared.
History of Family Persecution
My husband and I, along with other practitioners, went to Beijing twice to appeal on behalf of Falun Gong after the persecution began on July 20, 1999. We were escorted back to Xinjiang by local police officers and detained for 15 days.
My husband was detained on August 1, 2000 at the Xiabahu Forced Labor Farm in Changji, Xinjiang for two years. Guards weren't able to force him to renounce Falun Gong, and the local authorities continued to harass us after he was released. They threatened to sentence us again, so we left home and became destitute and homeless. We then moved to our daughter's home in Urumqi City.
Five of us were studying the Fa at my daughter's home on June 23, 2008, when a group of police officers from the Shayibake District Domestic Security Division in Urumqi City arrived. They took Dafa books, Master's photograph, Falun Dafa articles, Falun Gong ornaments, truth clarification materials and the equipment to make them, and more than 500 yuan which was for our living expenses.
Our wages had been frozen since 2000 and the benefits that we were supposed to receive terminated. The Nongliushi Police Department in Xinjiang cancelled our registered permanent residence.
My husband became frightened and had a reoccurrence of heart disease. The officers arrested the four of us and left him behind. We were given five year sentences. I was detained and persecuted at the No. 2 Women's Prison in Xinjiang. They continued to harass my husband. He couldn't live normally or practice Falun Gong, and he became ill again.
Parties Involved in Arresting Ms. Cheng Yonghong
Yu Shoubin (于守斌), Urumqi 610 Office Lei Xuefeng (雷学锋), Tian Shan District Domestic Security Division Director Niu of Tian Shan District Domestic Security Division
