75-Year-Old Liaoning Man Gets 7 Years, Another Local Practitioner Gets 1.5 Years For Practicing Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Two residents of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, were sentenced in late April 2025 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Mr. Liu Yingjun, 75, was sentenced to seven years and fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Wang Chengmei, 50, received one and a half years and was fined 20,000 yuan. They are appealing the illegal convictions.

Mr. Liu was arrested on May 10, 2024, while putting up Falun Gong banners. The police raided his home and confiscated 30,000 yuan in cash and other items. Ms. Wang happened to make a call to Mr. Liu during the police raid. They tracked her down and went to her home around 8 p.m. She was having dinner with her father and opened the door. About nine plainclothes officers barged in and arrested her. They confiscated her computer, printer, Falun Gong books and other personal belongings.

Ms. Wang’s family went to the Gezhenbao Police Station to seek her release, yet the officers said they were not involved in her arrest. The family then checked with seven nearby police stations and got the same answer. They later confirmed that it was officers from the Hongqi Town Police Station who arrested both Ms. Wang and Mr. Liu. They took the two practitioners to the Dalian City Detention Center (also known as the Yaojia Detention Center, located in Yaogong Street, Ganjingzi District).

Officer Han Shengjin from the Hongqi Town Police Station interrogated Ms. Wang at the detention center several times. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to make her admit she also hung up Falun Gong banners. While it is completely legal to put up such banners, she was home on May 10, 2024 and denied the allegation. Han then tried to get her to say she made the banners when she was never involved in producing banners. Despite the lack of evidence, she was indicted together with Mr. Liu by the Ganjingzi District Procuratorate in December 2024.

The Ganjingzi District Court held an in-person hearing on January 9, 2025 before switching to a virtual session on March 14, 2025. In both hearings, the police and the prosecutor alleged that Ms. Wang made banners for Mr. Liu to hang up. Both of them denied doing anything wrong but were convicted late April 2025.

Ms. Wang, a widow, worked hard to pay for her younger son’s college and her mortgage, as well as supporting her nearly 80-year-old father. With her in detention, they struggle to get by.