Recently, Sichuan petitioner Yu Fenglian accused the Gong County Procuratorate of retaliatory prosecution against her. The case had just been brought to court, and the judge immediately asked her to find a guarantor for bail pending trial, which she refused. On the evening of August 17th around 8 o’clock, four officers from the Gong County Public Security Bureau went to Yu Fenglian’s rented residence in Chengdu and forcibly took her back to Gong County for residential surveillance.
The “Residential Surveillance Decision” issued by the Gong County Court stated that Yu Fenglian was accused of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and enforced residential surveillance on her for a period of six months. During this time, she would not be allowed to go out, meet with others, or communicate. Yu Fenglian refused to sign the decision.
Yu Fenglian told a reporter from Epoch Times that she reported and accused the Procuratorate due to the economic losses she suffered from the authorities restricting her freedom by force and causing injuries over the past year. This was in response to being taken back from Beijing by the public security bureau five years ago, detained for 25 days, and illegally released pending trial, as well as being subjected to violence during her period of limited freedom. However, in the absence of a non-prosecution document, the Procuratorate counter-accused her of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and prosecuted her.
After the case was filed, without conducting a court trial, the judge from Gong County Court directly called Yu Fenglian to find a guarantor for bail pending trial. When she refused, on August 17th, officers from the Gong County Public Security Bureau went to her rented residence in Chengdu and forcibly placed her under residential surveillance.
The Yu family has been struggling to defend their rights and appeal for over a decade since the government wrongly allocated their inherited mountain land to neighboring landowners. Instead of resolving their grievances, they have attracted prolonged stability maintenance measures from the authorities.
Yu Fenglian said, “My brother, Yu Fangtang, has been under restrictive measures for over a year, not allowed to leave Gong County, unable to work and provide for his family. If he leaves, he will be violently beaten with no one to help him. The collaboration of public security, procuratorate, and courts in fabricating false charges, putting me under residential surveillance, is to keep me under control locally.”
“I demand compensation from the government for the losses caused by the persecution over the years. Not only does the government refuse to compensate, but I had to borrow money to pay for the medical bills and examination fees after being injured and disabled, which amounted to tens of thousands. I should have been resting at home (for cancer treatment) and not laboring in Chengdu to make money, but I had no choice. I had to work to pay off debts.”
“There’s nothing more to say. If I don’t comply, I will be handcuffed and taken away by force. So, I was placed under residential surveillance back in Gong County. The corruption has reached an untenable level!” she exclaimed.