(Minghui.org) Twenty-six cases of Falun Gong practitioners sentenced for their faith were reported in November 2022. Except one case that took place in 2021, the remaining 25 cases happened in 2022, including three in June, one in August, three in September, seven in October, and eleven in November.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Since then, countless practitioners have been arrested, detained, sentenced, and tortured for upholding their faith. But due to strict information censorship in China, the incidents can’t always be reported in a timely manner, nor is all the information readily available.
The sentenced practitioners came from 12 provinces and municipalities. Guangdong had the most, at six cases, followed by five cases each in Liaoning and Shandong, and two cases in Heilongjiang. The other eight regions each had one case.
The prison terms ranged from eight months to 15 years, with an average of 3.6 years. One practitioner was sentenced to seven years and also fined a half million yuan.
Among the 16 practitioners whose ages were known at the time of the sentencing, their ages ranged between 47 and 77, with six practitioners in their 60s and three in their 70s. Several of the practitioners were professionals, including a college professor, an electrical engineer, a retired senior information engineer, and several private school teachers.
The persecution also brought devastating impacts to the practitioners’ families. One practitioner’s sentencing came only one month after her daughter succumbed to the mental pressure from the persecution and passed away. Among the sentenced practitioners were also two grandmothers who stayed at their respective children’s homes to help care for their grandchildren. One practitioner lost her husband following her latest arrest, and another practitioner’s husband with mental illness is now left at home to fend for himself while she is in prison.
The following are snapshots of selected sentencing cases. The full list of sentenced practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
Lengthy Prison Terms and Hefty Fines
Severely Disabled Woman Ordered to Serve 15 Years
A severely disabled woman in Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was convicted in late September 2022 and ordered to serve 15 years in prison for practicing Falun Gong.
The 15-year sentence against Ms. Niu Xiaona, 47, included a 14-year term previously given in 2004. She was allowed to serve the prior 14-year sentence outside of prison due to her physical disability. Following her latest conviction, the court claimed that Ms. Niu failed to provide official documentation proving she had served the 14-year sentence outside of prison and thus ordered the combined term of 15 years. Ms. Niu was also fined 1,000 yuan.
Ms. Niu developed progressive rheumatoid arthritis, the same disease that killed her grandfather, while she was a college student in the 1990s. Tormented by the disease, she became emaciated and lost almost all her hair. Her knees became extremely swollen and were bent at nearly 90 degrees. Her arms were also swollen and crossed in front of her chest. Her finger joints were deformed from the swelling as well. Confined to bed, she bore constant excruciating pain all over her body.
After she began to practice Falun Gong, her pain disappeared and the swelling subsided. But as her joint periosteum, the membrane that covers the outer surface of bones and provides attachment for muscles and tendons, had already rotted, her legs were severely deformed and she could no longer fully stand up on her feet. She remains wheelchair-bound.
Her condition worsened following her latest arrest on April 19, 2021. She couldn’t move her right ankle. Unable to walk, she had to move by her buttocks. In only a few days, the skin on her buttocks had rubbed off.
Unable to move up the stairs leading to the restroom, Ms. Niu had to ask for help from inmates to carry her there. And also because she couldn’t squat due to her rigid knees, she often soiled her pants when urinating. She later bought a commode chair for defecating. She ate very little to avoid using it. During the three months she was detained, she only defecated four times, and each time required hours to finish.
When Ms. Niu’s family visited her in early June, she told them that she had chest tightness and extreme pain all over her body, including in her head and eyes. Her hands were also deformed and she was emaciated.
Meanwhile, Ms. Niu’s mother, Ms. Tuo Wenxia, 72, who was arrested with her in 2021 but released on bail, has been diagnosed with late-stage endometrial cancer. She is so weak now that she doesn’t have the strength to walk.
Three Guangdong Residents Sentenced to Prison—One Given Lengthy Term and Fined 500K Yuan
Three Huizhou City, Guangdong Province residents were sentenced on October 27, 2022, for practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Zhao Tianhua was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined 500,000 yuan. Mr. Chen Hualiang and Mr. Lian Yueguang were each given four years with a 20,000-yuan fine.
Mr. Zhao Tianhua
Mr. Chen Hualiang
Mr. Lian Yueguang
The police broke into Mr. Zhao’s home-based private school through his neighbor’s place on May 11, 2021. Mr. Zhao, his wife, Ms. Cai Huibin, as well as four other practitioners who taught at the school, including Mr. Chen, Mr. Lian, Ms. Wang Lifei, and Mr. Peng Jian, were all arrested.
Ms. Cai, Ms. Wang, and Mr. Peng were released after 37 days of detention, while the other three practitioners remained in custody.
The police initially charged the practitioners with engaging in “illegal business.” As they couldn’t find enough evidence to support the charge, they changed it to “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization,” the standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners. The Falun Gong books confiscated from the practitioners were then used as prosecution evidence against them.
During several months of detention, Mr. Zhao developed a severe heart condition and was hospitalized. His family applied three times to have him released on bail for medical treatment, but their requests were repeatedly denied by the police, even after the detention center guards also suggested not keeping him in custody any longer.
Mr. Zhao, Mr. Lian, and Mr. Peng appeared in Boluo County Court on October 28, 2021, and their lawyers entered not guilty pleas for them. Judge Hu Jinhui didn’t allow the lawyers to elaborate on the fact that no law has ever criminalized Falun Gong or labeled it as a cult in China.
Mr. Zhao, 51, has a bachelor’s degree in computer and information management. He worked as an accountant in a bank in Nanhai City, Guangdong Province after graduating from college. Because of his Falun Gong practice, he was given three years at the Sanshui Forced Labor Camp on February 13, 2002. Due to continued police harassment, he was forced to live away from home after being released. In July 2017, he started a private school named “Intelligent Spring Private School,” teaching classes in Chinese, math, English, and traditional Chinese culture.
Mr. Chen, 65, is a native of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. He previously taught at the Guizhou Business School. He was sentenced to a three-year prison term in October 2004 and fired from his job for upholding Falun Gong.
Mr. Lian, 56, was an elementary school teacher. He was sentenced to five years in Yangjiang Prison on July 20, 2007 and also fired from his job. The police continued to monitor his daily life and constantly harassed him after he was released.
Families’ Plight
One Month After Daughter’s Persecution Death, Mother Sentenced to 3.5 Years for Their Shared Faith
Ms. Bai Xingwen’s oldest daughter died at age 45 in October 2022 as a result of the persecution of their shared faith in Falun Gong. One month later, Ms. Bai, a Gongying City, Shandong Province resident in her late 60s, was sentenced to 3.5 years.
Ms. Ji Yingmei
Ms. Bai and two of her three daughters, Ms. Ji Yingmei and Ms. Ji Yingping, were arrested on July 15, 2021, after the police suspected Ms. Bai of putting up a Falun Gong banner two months earlier, on May 8.
The three women were all interrogated at the police station and had their blood, hair, fingerprints, and urine samples collected. The police also recorded their voices and took their photos. All three were released on bail not long after their arrests.
The police took Ms. Bai back into custody on September 16. When her three daughters went to the Chaoyang Police Station to demand her release, the police arrested the oldest daughter, Ms. Ji Yingmei, again.
After Ms. Bai and Ms. Ji were released, they submitted a request to the Procuratorate on October 19, requesting to have their cases dismissed. They also filed a complaint against the police for violating the law in handling their cases.
In retaliation, the police arrested Ms. Bai on November 6, 2021, and gave her 13 days of administrative detention. Due to her high blood pressure, she was denied admission by the local lockup and released.
The police submitted Ms. Bai’s case around March 22 to the Dongying District Procuratorate. She stood trial at the Dongying District Court on July 29 and was taken back into custody at the Binhai City Detention Center on September 19. Judge Ji Penghui sentenced her to 3.5 years with a 20,000-yuan fine on November 8.
One month before Ms. Bai’s sentencing, her oldest daughter, Ms. Ji Yingmei, who had just recovered from late-stage cervical cancer in 2019, succumbed to mental distress from the repeated arrests and harassment in the past two years and passed away on October 9. She is survived by her husband and their young child.
Older Woman Sentenced to Prison for Her Faith, Husband Dies Four Months After Her Arrest
Ms. Lyu Lizhen, a 68-year-old resident of Changchun City, Jilin Province, was admitted to prison on November 3, 2022, to serve a 2.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Lyu was arrested on November 11, 2021, and taken to the Changchun City No. 4 Detention Center on November 17. The Chaoyang District Court sentenced her to 2.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine in June 2022.
Ms. Lyu used to work at the Architectural Design Institute under the Changchun Educational Bureau. The persecution began shortly after she took up Falun Gong in 1999. Fearing being persecuted, she stopped practicing. She decided to resume practicing Falun Gong in 2011. In a few months, her chronic heart condition, neck problem, and frozen shoulder disappeared.
Prior to Ms. Lyu’s arrest, she and her husband were the main caregivers for their 12-year-old granddaughter who has a brain condition that renders her incapacitated. The child does not know how to chew food or relieve herself. She would sometimes suffer an episode at night and couldn’t fall asleep afterward. As both of her parents have full-time jobs, Ms. Lyu and her husband have spent much time caring for the girl.
Ms. Lyu’s arrest dealt a heavy blow to her 70-year-old husband, who struggled to care for their granddaughter on his own. The once-healthy man suddenly passed away around February 2022, leaving the family in tremendous agony.
Liaoning Woman Sentenced to Prison for Her Faith, Ailing Husband and Mother-in-law Left Without Care
A Dalian City, Liaoning Province resident was recently sentenced to three years for her faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Xu Guilian’s sentencing left her husband, who has a mental disorder, and her bedridden mother-in-law, in her 80s, in a dire situation.
Ms. Xu Guilian
Ms. Xu, 56, was arrested on March 31, 2021 at her mother’s home. She was first brought to the police station for interrogation and taken to the Yaojia Detention Center the next day. Her family recently learned that she has been taken to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison to serve a three-year term.
Ms. Xu worked as a community janitor before her arrest. Her husband suffers from a mental disorder and is unable to work. When he suffered an episode, he would run out, get drunk, and sleep on the street. Ms. Xu was his caregiver and the sole breadwinner of the family. Additionally, she also visited her incapacitated mother-in-law, cooking for her and bathing her every day. With Ms. Xu in prison, her husband and mother-in-law are struggling to cope.
Professionals Targeted
After Serving Two Years and Losing His Job, Electrical Engineer Sentenced to Four More Years
Mr. Xu Yongqing, a 58-year-old electrical engineer in Shanghai, was arrested in October 2021 at the local train station, when he was traveling from his hometown in Longquan City, Zhejiang Province back to his residence in Shanghai.
Mr. Xu was tried on July 11, 2022, by the Liandu District Court. His lawyer entered a not guilty plea for him. The prosecutor accused him of being a repeat offender, as he had been sentenced to two years in 2018 for practicing Falun Gong. Judge Ye Lu sentenced Mr. Xu to four years with 10,000 yuan fine on November 2, 2022.
Mr. Xu Yongqing
Prior to his latest ordeal, Mr. Xu was previously arrested on August 22, 2016 for demanding that authorities remove a propaganda bulletin board smearing Falun Gong near a subway station. Resisting his persistent effort to seek justice, the authorities retaliated by arresting him again on November 29, 2017. He was sentenced to a two-year prison term months later.
Mr. Xu lost his job and struggled with poor health due to torture while in prison, after he was released on November 28, 2019. He was forced to move four times, as the police kept pressuring his landlords to terminate his rental leases.
Retired Senior Information Engineer Appeals Wrongful Sentence
Ms. Zhang Yanyan, a 68-year-old retired senior information engineer in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, was arrested on September 9, 2021, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in a residential area.
The police put Ms. Zhang on a one-year bail with the charge of “undermining law enforcement with a cult organization” and she paid a 2,000-yuan bail bond. Because Ms. Zhang refused to renounce Falun Gong, the police submitted her case to the Xuanwu District Procuratorate on February 21, 2022. She stood trial in Xuanwu District Court on June 7.
The court called Ms. Zhang on October 24, and ordered her to report to them on October 27 for an interview. She was also required to undergo daily COVID-19 tests before the interview. The police called her later, demanding to know her test results. She refused to comply.
Ms. Zhang went to the court at the required time on October 27, only to be held by three police officers. Xu Mengjiao, the court clerk, handed a stack of paperwork to her and told her that she had been sentenced to 1.5 years and fined 15,000 yuan.
Xu said Ms. Zhang could file an appeal within ten days. The police then handcuffed Ms. Zhang and took her to the Xuanwu District Police Department for a two-day quarantine. She was then taken to a local hospital to have a chest X-ray, brain CT scan, electrocardiogram, and blood test.
When the police took her to the Nanjing City Detention Center on October 29, she was denied admission due to high blood pressure of 250/120 mmHg. Knowing that she was planning to appeal the verdict, the Xuanwu District Court agreed to have her released on bail, until the higher court made a decision about her appeal case.
Ms. Zhang filed the appeal on November 4. She argued that the police labeled Falun Gong materials confiscated from her as “cult promotional materials,” without showing the actual items in court. She added that Falun Gong wasn’t included in the cult list published by the Ministry of Public Security and that the ban on Falun Gong books had been lifted by the Chinese publication bureau in 2011.
Ms. Zhang also pointed out that the prosecutor accused her of “undermining law enforcement,” but he failed to articulate which law’s enforcement was undermined and what damage she allegedly caused. As such, she concluded that the judge’s conviction for “undermining law enforcement” had no legal basis.
Retired College Professor Sentenced to 3.5 Years for Distributing Falun Gong Materials
Ms. Li Jian, 61, previously taught at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. She was arrested at home on November 5, 2020, for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
The police submitted Ms. Li’s case to the Procuratorate on February 25, 2021. She was sentenced to 3.5 years and fined 5,000 yuan in late 2021. The higher court ruled to uphold her original verdict on April 25, 2022.
This isn’t the first time that Ms. Li has been targeted for her faith. She was previously arrested on December 28, 2001, for going to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. The police gave her one year of forced labor.
Targeted for Speaking Out
Having Been Incarcerated for 13 Years, Inner Mongolian Woman Secretly Sentenced Again to Four Years
A former teacher in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia was arrested on July 13, 2022, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong.
Ms. Wang Xiufang worked at Yuanbaoshan Power Plant before her arrest. Her daughter was shocked to learn that she had been sentenced to a four-year prison term, when she went to the Pingzhuang Detention Center in early November to make a cash deposit for her. The authorities, including the police, the Procuratorate, and the court, never informed their family of her trial and sentencing.
Ms. Wang, 56, started practicing Falun Gong in 1997. After the persecution began in 1999, she went to Beijing with her newborn second daughter to appeal for Falun Gong, only to be arrested and taken back to Chifeng. She wasn’t deterred and went to Beijing again, bringing along her two young daughters. This time, she was arrested halfway to Beijing and sent back to Chifeng.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Wang had been arrested many more times, sentenced twice to seven years, and given three terms of forced labor totaling six years, for refusing to give up her faith. One of her prison terms was extended by five months. During her incarceration, she was whipped, tied to a metal chair, hung up by her handcuffed wrists, forced to stand under the hot sun, shocked with electric batons, and deprived of sleep.
In an attempt to force her to renounce her faith, Ms. Wang’s husband once struck her in the back with a knife, then tried to choke her. Terrified, their two daughters ran to their paternal grandfather’s home. Hearing what had happened, the grandfather rushed over. Seeing that Ms. Wang was bleeding from her mouth and nose, he kicked open the window and climbed in to stop his son.
Due to Ms. Wang’s repeated arrests and lengthy incarceration, her husband divorced her, leaving her to care for their two young daughters by herself. Her older daughter dropped out of school at age 12 and went to work to help support the family.
Two Grandmothers in Their 70s Sentenced to Prison
Two women in their 70s were sentenced on June 9, 2022, for talking to people about the persecution of their faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Tong Suqing is a 77-year-old native of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, and Ms. Liu Shaozhen is a 73-year-old native of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province. They both currently reside in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province to help care for their respective grandchildren.
They went shopping for groceries together on May 13, 2019. Upon seeing two food delivery drivers eating lunch at the parking lot, they went up and talked to them about Falun Gong. One of the drivers, Lin, reported them, resulting in their arrests. Both of their Falun Gong books and informational materials were confiscated.
Ms. Tong was released on bail two days later due to her high blood pressure. Ms. Liu was released on bail after a month of detention.
Ms. Tong was reported again for talking to people about Falun Gong in March 2020 and arrested. She had extremely high blood pressure after one night of detention at the police station. Two days after she was released on bail, the police informed her children that the prosecutor had indicted her and that she wasn’t allowed to leave Shenzhen, but had to be prepared to be summoned at any time.
Meanwhile, the police also submitted Ms. Liu’s case to the Nanshan District Procuratorate, which indicted her and moved her case to the Nanshan District Court as well.
The Nanshan District Court summoned Ms. Tong several times, but she insisted that she hadn’t violated any law by talking to people about her faith, and refused to cooperate. The judge ordered the police to arrest her on January 17, 2022, and hold her at the local detention center.
The judge announced the verdicts for the two practitioners on June 9, 2022. Ms. Tong was sentenced to 1.5 years with a 3,000-yuan fine and Ms. Liu was given eight months with one year of probation and a 2,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Tong, a retired medical personnel of the railroad system in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, used to suffer from severe migraines, frozen shoulder, and lumbar vertebral bone hyperplasia, all of which disappeared after she took up Falun Gong.
Prior to her latest sentencing, she has been arrested twice, on March 1, 2006, and August 22, 2010, for talking to people about Falun Gong. She was forced to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong against her will at the brainwashing center following her second arrest.
Related reports:
Reported in October 2022: 28 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in September 2022: 47 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in August 2022: 57 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in July 2022: 55 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in the First Half of 2022: 366 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in May 2022: 42 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in April 2022: 57 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in March 2022: 74 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in February 2022: 33 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in January 2022: 132 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in 2021: 1,187 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
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