(Minghui.org) A 79-year-old woman in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, was admitted to the Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison on April 2, 2026, to serve a four-year term handed down in late 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Zhang Zhenyi, a former math teacher at the Pu’er City Middle School, started to practice Falun Gong in 1998 and soon recovered from her gastric ailments, duodenal ulcers, and vertigo. She was arrested on November 15, 2023, together with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law. Her son and daughter-in-law were released that night. She was released on bail the next day, but her husband remained in custody.
Prosecutor Su Jing from the Xishan District Procuratorate indicted Ms. Zhang and her husband in March 2024. Her husband, Mr. Su Zesheng, 79, was sentenced to four years with a 40,000-yuan fine on December 21, 2024. He lost his appeal and was admitted to the Yunnan Province First Prison in the second half of 2025.
Ms. Zhang went into hiding after her husband was sentenced. Two officers from the Macun Police Station followed her home on July 17, 2025, and arrested her. They handed her over to the Lishutou Police Station. Her son managed to find out where she was the next day. He fought for her release, and the police let her go home that afternoon (July 18, 2025). They warned her not to go into hiding again and instructed her to wait for a notice of her court date.
Judge Pu Huijun with the Xishan District Court tried Ms. Zhang on August 28, 2025, and sentenced her to two years with a 20,000-yuan fine at that time. Judges Zhan Wenxi and Cao Qingjie, and clerk Zhang Shiman also signed the verdict. She appealed but lost.
Ms. Zhang was allowed to return home after her trial. When the police took her for a physical exam on March 15, 2026, she was deemed unfit for detention. They tried again not long afterwards, but she failed the exam again. The police took her for a third physical exam on March 30 and took her straight to the Kunming City Detention Center afterwards. The detention center put her in the Xinhua Hospital for inpatient care hours later. She was admitted to prison on April 2, 2026.
Minghui.org previously reported on the arrests of Ms. Zhang and her loved ones, as well as her husband’s prison sentence. This report covers newly available details.
Ms. Zhang Zhenyi’s daughter-in-law Ms. Zhang Xiaodan returned to their shared residence at around 9:40 a.m. on November 15, 2023. As soon as she opened the door, about eight officers (only two in uniform) surrounded her. Captain Pu from the Panlong District Police Department flashed his ID and restrained her. He instructed one officer to point the bodycam at her.
Ms. Zhang Zhenyi was ordered to sit on a couch. She was so terrified that her blood pressure shot up, and she felt dizzy. Several officers searched her bedroom and confiscated some items.
They also searched her husband Mr. Su Zesheng’s bedroom. Pu had an officer stand outside his bedroom and videotape the search. When Mr. Su asked what the police were there for, Shi Ruilin accused him and his family of violating Article 300 of the criminal law, which says that those who use a cult organization to undermine the law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Mr. Su responded by saying that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult.
The police laid out the confiscated items on a tea table and ordered Mr. Su to confirm them and sign the confiscation list.
About 10 minutes later, a family friend, Mr. Pi Penghua, came to visit and was arrested, too. The police cuffed his hands behind his back and searched him. Another friend, Mr. Chen Shunzu, came by about half an hour later. He called via the intercom, and an officer went downstairs and brought him up to the apartment. He was also searched. Two more plainclothes officers later joined the raid.
No search warrant was ever produced during the proceedings.
Mr. Su, his wife, their son and daughter-in-law, as well as their two friends, were taken to the Donghua Police Station. They were surprised to see Ms. Zhang Zhenyi’s sister Ms. Zhang Huiyi and her husband there. It is unclear why the police arrested the couple. Ms. Zhang Huiyi’s husband was the only one not interrogated. Ms. Zhang Huiyi’s home was also raided.
After midnight, the police took Ms. Zhang Zhenyi, Mr. Su, and Mr. Pi, all of them over 75 years old, to the Xinhua Hospital for physical exams. Both Ms. Zhang and her husband had abnormally high blood pressure. Mr. Su’s finger joints were also severely deformed. Ms. Pi couldn’t stop shaking and her blood pressure also shot up. The three of them were next taken to the Lishutou Police Station.
Ms. Zhang Zhenyi and Ms. Pi were released on bail after 9 p.m. on November 16, 2023, but they were not given any official notice. Mr. Su was taken to the Panlong District First Detention Center but was denied admission for health reasons. The police took him to the Xinhua Hospital for inpatient care. Officer Ren Junxiong refused to allow his family to visit him. He was discharged a week later and admitted to the Panlong District First Detention Center. His son and daughter-in-law were released the night of November 15, 2023 (details in the last section of this report).
The Panlong District Police Department submitted the case against Ms. Zhang Zhenyi and her husband to the Xishan District Procuratorate. Prosecutor Su (no relation) indicted the couple. Ms. Zhang and her son and daughter-in-law filed a complaint against prosecutor Su and requested meetings with her supervisor, but their requests were repeatedly denied.
Mr. Su hired a Falun Gong friend to represent him but prosecutor Su turned him down.
The aforementioned judge Pu appointed a lawyer for Mr. Su, who refused to accept the appointment because that lawyer was instructed to enter a guilty plea for him. Pu held a hearing on December 20, 2024, without notifying Mr. Su’s family. Mr. Su ended up with no legal representation. He reminded the judge that he had hired a lawyer long before to defend him. Pu claimed that the lawyer practiced Falun Gong, too, and was therefore not allowed to represent him,
Mr. Su said nothing more throughout the proceedings. He was sentenced to four years with a 40,000-yuan fine the very next day. He appealed to the Kunming City Intermediate Court but lost. He was admitted to the Yunnan Province First Prison in the second half of 2025.
This is not the first time that Mr. Su, born in July 1946, has been targeted for his faith. He was fired from his job as an attending physician at the Ning’er County Hospital. He was sentenced to one year in 2006. At the time he was preparing to apply for retirement. His employer wiped out all his years of service, leaving him with no pension benefits. He had to do odd jobs after his prison release to make a living.
Ms. Zhang Xiaodan and her husband, Mr. Su Kun, born in September 1974, were interrogated separately on the day of their arrests (November 15, 2023).
Officer Shi, in plainclothes, and another agent questioned Mr. Su. Shi signed his name and put his badge number on the interrogation record, but the other officer did not. Shi told a third officer, who did not participate in the interrogation, to sign instead. Mr. Su wrote on the record that the police asked irrelevant questions and failed to record what he said. He declared the interrogation unlawful and then signed his name.
Ms. Zhang was interrogated by another two officers, who did not reveal their names or show any ID. She also wrote that the interrogation was illegal and signed the document. The two interrogating officers did not sign as required by law.
The couple were ordered to sign summons, which did not state a specific time. Ms. Zhang signed but her husband wrote, “I refuse to sign.” They were not given copies of the summons. They were then released around 9 p.m. on November 15, 2023.
This was not the first time that the couple had been targeted for practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Su was given three years of forced labor in December 2004. Because he resisted the persecution, his term was extended by eight months. After he and his wife were arrested on May 4, 2012, he was sentenced to six years in prison, and she was sentenced to four years. He was fired from his job as a computer science professor at the Yunnan Open University not long afterwards.
Following their latest release in November 2023, they, along with Ms. Zhang Zhenyi, filed complaints against chief Liu Wenxian of the Panlong District Police Department and his subordinates Pu and Shi, as well as deputy chief Chen Fuxin and officer Ren from the Lishutou Police Station. They demanded that the case against Ms. Zhang Zhenyi and her husband be dismissed, that Mr. Su be released, and that the confiscated items be returned. No response was ever received, and the older couple were eventually sentenced to prison.
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