Reported in September 2024: 18 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution and 57 Sentenced
(Minghui.org) In September 2024, a total of 18 Falun Gong practitioners died due to the persecution and another 57 were sentenced for their faith.
The 18 newly-reported deaths included one that took place in 2021, one in 2022, two in 2023, and 14 between February and September 2024. The 57 sentenced broke down to one in 2021, two in 2022, 13 in 2023, 30 in 2024, and 11 in unknown years. Due to strict information censorship, the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners can’t always be reported on time, nor is all information readily available.
Part I. Overview of Deaths
The 18 deceased practitioners, 13 of them women, came from seven provinces and one centrally-controlled municipality. There were four each in Hunan and Shandong, followed by three in Beijing, two each in Hebei and Jilin, and one each in Heilongjiang, Hubei, and Yunnan. The practitioners were aged between 40 and 83 at the time of their passing, with six in their 60s, seven in their 70s, and three in their 80s.
A 60-year-old woman was detained despite her dangerously high blood pressure. She suffered a massive stroke in custody and was released on the same day. She died eight days later, which was 19 days from her last arrest. A 74-year-old Jilin man also fell into critical condition in custody. He died 21 days after being released on bail. A 72-year-old internal medicine physician survived nine hellish years of incarceration and torture, only to die a few days after her prison release.
Most of the other practitioners passed away after enduring decades of arrests, harassment, detention, and torture, including the son and daughter-in-law of a Beijing resident in her 80s, who is serving a 1.5-year term outside of prison for her shared faith in Falun Gong.
Below are details of select death cases. The full list of the deceased practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
1.1 Deaths Shortly After Release
1.1.1 60-Year-Old Woman Dies 19 Days after Last Arrest
Despite Ms. Wang Qingxiang’s dangerously high blood pressure, the police still kept her in custody after arresting her on September 5, 2024. They eventually released the Yuanjiang City, Hunan Province, resident on September 16 when she suffered a massive stroke that day. She passed away eight days later, on September 24. She was 60 years old.
Police officers broke into Ms. Wang’s home on September 4, 2024, and confiscated her Falun Gong books and informational materials. She managed to escape. She returned home hours later and decided to go to the police station the next morning to seek the return of her Falun Gong books, but officers seized her as she stepped out of her door. They dragged her into a police car and took her straight to the Yiyang City Detention Center. Yiyang oversees Yuanjiang.
Ms. Wang’s family went to the Yiyang City Police Department to demand her release. They said that, since she’d had a stroke, she was at high risk of having another one given her high blood pressure. The receiving officer said that they would take her for a physical exam first, and if she was indeed found to be unfit for detention, they would release her. But even after Ms. Wang was found to have high blood pressure (a systolic pressure of 220 mmHg when the normal level is 120 mmHg or lower), the police still detained her.
Ms. Wang’s family received a call from the police at around 5 p.m. on September 16, ordering them to come take her home. Her daughter came from Changsha (about 50 miles away) to Yiyang. After getting permission from several supervisors, she was finally allowed to see her mother in the Yiyang City Fourth People’s Hospital. Ms. Wang was shackled and being watched by two female officers. She was so weak that she could hardly walk. She returned to her daughter’s home at around 10 p.m.
Ms. Wang continued to have mobility issues upon returning home. She had trouble eating and could only drink soup. On the fourth day, she couldn’t keep her balance even leaning against the wall. Her daughter called an ambulance and she was taken to the Xiangya Hospital in Changsha. The doctor said she had had a massive stroke and recommended surgery. Fearing that Ms. Wang might not have many days left, her family transferred her to Yuanjiang City Hospital three days later. She passed away two days later on September 24.
Mr. Tian Yuchun from Changchun City, Jilin Province died 21 days after he was released on bail in critical condition. The Chaoyang District Court threatened to sentence him to three years even after he passed away on July 24, 2024. He was one month shy of turning 75.
Mr. Tian was arrested at his home on April 18, 2024. The police said they targeted him because their supervisors ordered them to fill a quota and arrest a certain number of Falun Gong practitioners by May 1st (China’s Labor Day). Although the police promised to release him after they interrogated him, they took him to the Changchun City First Detention Center the next day. During the required physical exam, Mr. Tian was found to have high blood pressure, stroke symptoms, and a detached retina. By law, he was unfit for detention, but the detention center still admitted him.
Mr. Tian’s family appealed to the detention center but to no avail. They then turned to the local association of people with disabilities, but they refused to help. The family hired a lawyer but the detention center said Mr. Tian was a “political inmate” and was not allowed any visitors (either family or lawyers). The detention center even threatened to have the lawyer’s license revoked if he dared to continue representing Mr. Tian.
On June 20, 2024, a guard notified Mr. Tian’s family that he’d vomited and lost consciousness that day and was diagnosed with an intestinal obstruction. His family asked to visit him but they were turned down. When the detention center found Mr. Tian also had bile duct cancer eight days later, they informed his family to apply for his release on bail.
It took a few days to process all the required paperwork. By the time Mr. Tian was released on bail on July 3, 2024, he was so weak that he could not walk without assistance. He later told his family that he was forced to sit on a board motionless every day in the detention center. In less than one week, his bottom bled and developed a thick layer of calluses.
He also said his health decline started long before June 20 when the detention center called his family. He said he was taken to the detention center hospital in May 2024 and restrained in a bed with his hands cuffed and feet shackled all day long. The guards only allowed him to wear his underwear and a thin pair of pants. He was not given anything to eat. Three guards watched him and refused to say what injections he was given every day.
It is still chilly in Jilin in May. With his upper body naked, Mr. Tian implored the guards and the nurses to allow him to put on his shirt. They all ignored him.
Despite his condition, the detention center waited until June 20 to notify his family. He died 21 days after he was released.
1.1.3 Tortured for Upholding Her Faith, Former Internal Medicine Physician Dies Days after Prison Release
Ms. Liu Dongxian of Changde City, Hunan Province, endured relentless torture when she was serving a nine-year term for practicing Falun Gong. She died in May 2024, only a few days after she was released. She was 72.
Ms. Liu used to be the chief physician of internal medicine at Taoyuan County Red Cross Hospital. Despite being a physician herself, she struggled with many ailments, including inflammation of the gall bladder, stomach problems, heart disease, and Meniere’s syndrome. After she took up Falun Gong in April 1999, all her health issues disappeared.
After the Chinese communist regime started the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Ms. Liu was repeatedly targeted for not renouncing her faith. She served a labor camp term of one year and nine months and three prison sentences totaling 16 years. The authorities monitored her phone and everyday life, and she often noticed she was being followed whenever she went out. The hospital where she worked demoted her from her position as physician and had her do miscellaneous tasks at a drug warehouse. Her salary and bonus were suspended and she was only paid 300 yuan a month to cover the most basic living expenses.
Ms. Liu was arrested again in December 2016 and sentenced to nine years on March 13, 2018. At the Hunan Province Women’s Prison, she was forced to stand motionless for long hours and only allowed to move her arms to eat or drink. She had to report to and get permission from the head inmate before she could use the restroom. Her time to take showers was limited as well.
Torture illustration: Standing
Due to Ms. Liu’s heart condition and high blood pressure, she was released in May 2024, 19 months before her term expired. She died just days later.
1.2 Deaths After Years of Suffering
1.2.1 Blinded and Incapacitated from Prison Torture, 80-Year-Old Woman Dies After Years of Suffering
Ms. Shi Liangyu was completely blind and incapacitated when she was released on June 14, 2010, after serving an eight-year term for practicing Falun Gong. The Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, resident never recovered. The loss of vision caused her tremendous difficulty in her daily life. She fell several times, unable to move. After struggling with declining health for years, she passed away on August 6, 2024. She was 80 years old.
Ms. Shi, who was retired the Shashi District Latex Factory, was repeatedly arrested in the early years of persecution. Following an arrest in early September 2001, the police didn’t let her take showers or change clothes despite the hot weather. They also beat her and shocked her with electric batons. She was released on bail on December 27, 2001, and taken back into custody at the Hubei Province Women’s Prison in early December 2002, after being sentenced to eight years.
Because Ms. Shi refused to renounce Falun Gong, the guards and inmates repeatedly tortured her and deprived her of sleep. The inmates pulled handfuls of hair out of her head and force-fed her twice.
Ms. Shi was forced to write a statement renouncing Falun Gong against her will in July 2007. She regretted it soon after and announced that the statement was null and void. In retaliation, the guards deprived her of sleep for a month. Inmates in nearby cells heard her screaming from torture every night. One of her eyes was blinded and she became emaciated. When she was released on June 14, 2010, she was blind in both eyes and completely incapacitated.
1.2.2 Elderly Beijing Woman Loses Son and Daughter-in-law in the Persecution of Falun Gong
A Beijing resident in her 80s was sentenced to one and a half years for practicing Falun Gong while still mourning the death of her daughter-in-law. Ms. Zhang Wenfang was allowed to serve time outside of prison due to her mobility issues, only to be struck with another tragedy when her son died earlier this year.
Both Mr. Sun Zhigang, 61, and his wife, Ms. Wang Suxia, 58, lost their lives after suffering repeated persecution for their faith in Falun Gong. The couple and Ms. Zhang spent years living away from home to avoid being targeted for their faith. Mr. Sun and Ms. Wang’s health deteriorated as a result. Ms. Wang died on August 28, 2021, and her husband died on February 28, 2024.
After the persecution began in 1999, Mr. Sun was forced to resign from his job at the Changping District Locomotive Depot. He was later given two forced labor terms totaling three years and eight months between September 2001 and 2005. His wife also served an unknown term of forced labor. Their child had to quit school after 9th grade when both of them were in detention.
The couple’s home was raided on October 20, 2006, with Ms. Wang arrested and detained for an unknown amount of time.
The police came at them again at 6 a.m. on May 5, 2016, and raided their home. Mr. Sun was detained for two weeks and Ms. Wang for an unknown amount of time.
The couple were harassed multiple times in April and May 2017. Over 30 agents broke into their home on August 1, 2017, and took them to the local brainwashing center. They went on a hunger strike. Ms. Wang was released the next day and Mr. Sun on the fourth day.
To avoid further persecution, the couple lived away from home and their health declined as they struggled to make ends meet and also worried about their safety. They later returned home around 2021. The police broke in on June 27, 2021, and arrested Mr. Sun. He had already been struggling with slow reactions and slurred speech at the time, but the police still attempted to keep him in detention. They ended up having to release him after he failed the required physical exam. They returned numerous times to harass him and his wife.
Ms. Wang died two months later, on August 28, 2021. Mr. Sun’s condition worsened afterwards and he passed away on February 28, 2024.
Ms. Wang Shuhua suffered from constant convulsions and nausea after she was given toxic injections while being detained in 2006 for her faith in Falun Gong. In 2013, her condition suddenly worsened and she became completely incapacitated. After struggling for another decade of physical suffering and enduring the mental distress of the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong, especially witnessing the arrest and sentencing of her husband, she passed away on August 14, 2024. She was 68.
Ms. Wang and her husband, Mr. Zhou Chuanzhong, of Taian City, Shandong Province, both worked for the hydrogeological engineering team under the Shandong Province Metallurgical Geological Survey Bureau. They took up Falun Gong in 1996. Ms. Wang’s frequent headaches soon disappeared. Mr. Zhou also recovered from his various ailments.
Due to non-stop harassment after the persecution started, the couple was forced to live away from home in early March 2000, yet the police always managed to find them not long after they moved each time. To hide from the police, they lived in several provinces including Hubei, Shanxi, and Hebei.
On February 26, 2006, the police broke into their temporary residence in Sanhe City, Hebei Province. Mr. Zhou was detained at the Sanhe City Detention Center for ten months, where he was subjected to frequent beating and verbal abuse. The Sanhe City Court later sentenced him to three years and six months for printing Falun Gong materials. By the time he was admitted to the Tangshan Prison, he was very weak and had difficulty walking. Because he refused to renounce Falun Gong, the authorities extended his term by four months.
While Ms. Wang was detained at the Sanhe City Detention Center, she was watched by the inmates around the clock and constantly pressed to renounce Falun Gong. Due to the mental distress, she suffered extremely high blood pressure and intense headaches. Because she remained firm in Falun Gong, the authorities took her to the Langfang City Legal Education Center for further persecution. The guards there injected her with a blue liquid. She had intense convulsions and kept vomiting afterward. Despite her condition, she was still forced to attend brainwashing sessions every day.
After Ms. Wang was released three months later, the local government shut off their power and water and evicted the family from the apartment.
The family later moved back to Taian. Ms. Wang suffered continued health problems from the toxic injections. In 2013, her condition suddenly worsened and she became completely incapacitated.
Mr. Zhou was arrested again on February 28, 2023, and sentenced to one year with a 5,000 yuan fine on August 2, 2023. He was denied admission by the local detention center due to his poor health and was released.
Ms. Wang was devastated by Mr. Zhou’s prison sentence. Her condition further deteriorated and she passed away on August 14, 2024.
As the local social security bureau had suspended the couple’s pension, and their son wasn’t working due to injuries sustained in a car accident, the family only had 500 yuan in cash and couldn’t even afford to pay for Ms. Wang’s funeral. After a relative heard about their situation, he lent them 10,000 yuan. Only then was the family able to have Ms. Wang’s body cremated so that she could rest in peace.
Part 2. Overview of Sentencing Cases
The 57 sentenced practitioners hailed from 17 provinces and three centrally-controlled municipalities. Liaoning and Hebei both had seven cases, followed by six in Heilongjiang, and five each in Beijing and Shandong. There were between one and four cases in the remaining 15 regions.
Of the 40 practitioners whose ages at the time of sentencing were known, they were between 29 and 86. Thirteen of them were in their 60s, another 13 in their 70s, and two in their 80s.
The practitioners’ prison terms ranged from ten months to 13 years, with an average of three years and ten months. Twelve practitioners were also levied fines ranging from 3,000 to 30,000 yuan, with a total of 124,000 yuan and average of 10,333 yuan per person.
Below are details of select sentencing cases. The full list of the sentenced practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
2.1 Heavy Terms
2.1.1 Three Jilin Residents Given 12-13 Years, Two Jailed Previously
Three Nongan County, Jilin Province, residents were given heavy sentences for their faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Su Xiufu, around 59, was sentenced to 13 years. Ms. Xu Yafen and Ms. Yin Guiying, in her 70s, both received 12 years.
The three practitioners were arrested at noon on August 24, 2022. According to insiders, the police monitored them for over six months before making the arrests.
The three were taken to the Changchun City Second Detention Center and issued formal arrest warrants on September 7, 2022. Ms. Xu’s lawyer was not allowed to see her after that. He was told that he had to seek approval from the Changchun City Judicial Bureau and the Lawyers’ Association first. After that, he needed permission from the Nongan County Police Department.
The Changchun City Judicial Bureau turned the lawyer away, claiming they had nothing to do with the matter. He then went to the Nongan County Police Department. Officer Li Derui, who was in charge of the case, was either “not in” or refused to see him.
The police later directed the lawyer to seek permission from the Dehui City Court, which had been assigned to the case. The court said it was not their business to determine whether the lawyer could meet with his client at the detention center.
The lawyer was thus unable to visit Ms. Xu and knew nothing about her case. Ms. Yin’s and Mr. Su’s families were also not given any updates about their cases.
It wasn’t until September 2024 when the three practitioners’ families learned of the lengths of their sentences, but they still have not received copies of the verdicts.
2.1.2 70-Year-Old Man Sentenced to 7.5 Years for Sharing Videos on Social Media
Mr. Guan Chenglin, a 70-year-old Faku County, Liaoning Province, resident, was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison with a 20,000-yuan fine on August 22, 2024, for sharing videos on Kuaishou, a popular short-form video platform in China.
Mr. Guan’s arrest was triggered by an investigation of another local Falun Gong practitioner, Song Hongman (gender unknown), who was accused of posting Falun Gong videos on Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) and Kuaishou. Police departments in Shenyang City (in Liaoning Province), Zhengzhou City (in Henan Province), and Xianyang City (in Shaanxi Province) were involved in the investigation.
The police discovered Mr. Guan’s information from Song’s account and noticed that he reposted some videos in his Kuaishou account. The Shenyang City Police Department shared the findings with its subordinate Faku County Police Department, which then instructed the local police station to arrest Mr. Guan on August 29, 2023.
Two officers from the arresting police station interrogated Mr. Guan on December 25, 2023, and February 26, 2024, ordering him to cooperate with them by verifying the two cell phones he had and the Kuaishou account he used to repost videos.
The Faku County Police Department submitted the case to the Xinmin City Procuratorate on March 27, 2024. Prosecutor Wang Hao indicted him on June 3, 2024, and recommended a seven-to-eight-year prison sentence with a fine.
When Mr. Guan appeared in the Xinmin City Court on July 30, 2024, prosecutor Wang only presented photos of his Kuaishou account and a chart showing how many videos he reposted on Kuaishou and how many views on each video. Mr. Guan and his two non-lawyer defenders challenged prosecutor Wang to play the videos in court in order to determine whether they indeed undermined law enforcement or caused harm to anyone. Both Wang and presiding judge Lin Shujing denied the request.
Mr. Guan expressed his doubts about the exact number of videos he allegedly reposted because the police had confiscated his phone and there was no verification of the amount of prosecution evidence against him.
He added that he did not know how to create and edit videos himself. All the videos he reposted were recommended by Kuaishou. Most of the videos had nothing to do with Falun Gong and were about prophecies, reincarnation stories, legends, and poems that advised people to be good. Even the few Falun Gong videos he reposted were totally legal, because no law criminalizes Falun Gong.
The judge announced on August 22 that Mr. Guan was sentenced to 7.5 years with a 20,000-yuan fine.
2.1.3 Qinghai Woman Gets Six Years for Posting Social Media Videos Drawing Over 100K Views
Ms. Xue Shunrong of Huzhu County, Qinghai Province, was sentenced to six years on May 8, 2024, for posting information about Falun Gong on social media. She is now in the Xining City Women’s Prison.
Ms. Xue, 49, was arrested at home on July 6, 2023. The police accused her of posting videos about Falun Gong that had garnered over 100,000 views on Kuaishou. They also interrogated her daughter and son, as well as her bedridden mother-in-law in her 80s, in attempts to collect information they could hold against her.
Ms. Xue was tried in the Haidong City Intermediate Court on January 17, 2024. The presiding judge, Nima Zhaxi, and the prosecutor said their superiors had deemed the trial as “significant” and recommended a sentence of between five and seven years. The sentence, however, could be reduced to three years if her family could manage to persuade her to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Xue stated clearly during the hearing that it would not be possible for her to renounce Falun Gong. Judge Na announced her six-year sentence four months later.
2.2 Sentencing of Elderly Practitioners
2.2.1 86-Year-Old Man Sentenced to 3.5 Years in Prison
Mr. Zhao Yungu, 86, from Bin County, Heilongjiang Province, was sentenced to 3.5 years and fined 30,000 yuan in early September 2024. He is appealing the verdict.
Mr. Zhao, a retired small tractor factory worker, and his wife, Ms. Liu Shumei, a former business professional, have both been repeatedly targeted over the past 25 years for practicing Falun Gong. Both of them previously served two one-year labor camp terms and a seven-year prison term. Ms. Liu developed a serious medical condition due to the pressure of the persecution, yet the police continued to harass her regularly. She was 77 when she passed away in May 2019.
Mr. Zhao’s latest arrest took place around 7 a.m. on July 31, 2023, as he left his apartment building. Five officers who were staked out there seized him and took him to a hospital for a physical exam. Due to his poor health, the detention center refused to admit him. The police released him on bail in the early morning hours of August 1, 2023.
The Bin County Police Station put Mr. Zhao under house arrest on January 30, 2024. The Yilan County Procuratorate indicted him on July 6 and the Yilan County Court extended his house arrest by six months on July 27.
The judge heard Mr. Zhao’s case in his home on August 16. He was sentenced shortly afterward.
Ms. Duan Zaiying, 75, in the Ba’nan District of Chongqing was arrested on December 20, 2023, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong at a local farmers’ market. She was released on bail that night but was taken back into custody eight days later. Her case was later assigned to the Jiulongpo District, which has been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the region.
The Jiulongpo District Court heard her case on June 5, 2024, and sentenced her to three and a half years on September 14. She is appealing the verdict.
Ms. Duan was previously targeted numerous times in the past, resulting in three forced labor terms totaling five and a half years and three prior prison sentences totaling six and a half years.
2.3 Sentencing by Fabricated Evidence and Deceit
2.3.1 Beijing Court Uses Deceit to Change Woman’s Probation Term to 4.5-Year Prison Sentence
The Yanqing District Court in Beijing sentenced a woman to one year in prison with two years probation on May 28, 2024, only to secretly increase the sentence to four and a half years with a 9,000-yuan fine two weeks later without due process. Ms. Zhang Lianyu was notified in September 2024 to have a physical exam in preparation for prison admission.
Ms. Zhang’s ordeal stemmed from her arrest six years ago. At 10 a.m. on May 14, 2018, two plainclothes officers showed up at her home. One of them talked to her while the other walked around. When he noticed a printer and a picture of the founder of Falun Gong, the second officer immediately called for backup. They ignored Ms. Zhang when she demanded to see their IDs and went on to raid her home.
After ransacking the place for five hours, the police took Ms. Zhang and the confiscated items to the Xiadu Police Station. They drove her to their supervising agency, the Yanqing District Police Department, at midnight. Two hours later, they transferred her to the Changping District Detention Center. She was denied admission after she failed the required physical exam. The police took her back to the Xiadu Police Station at 6 a.m. on May 15, 2018. She was released on bail at noon.
Afterwards, the police kept harassing Ms. Zhang at home, attempting to make her renounce her faith. Ms. Zhang had no choice but to live away from home. Her health declined and she eventually returned home. As soon as the police found out about it, they sped up prosecuting her.
Officer Liu Xinxing from the Xiadu Police Station, prosecutor Liu Xueyan from the Yanqing District Procuratorate, and judge Li Shuang and her clerk from the Yanqing District Court visited her on October 23, 2019, to tell her that she had been indicted and a court date was scheduled for November 14 that year.
It is unclear whether the hearing on November 14, 2019, ever took place, but Ms. Zhang was later arrested in June 2021 and detained briefly.
Judge Li led several people to Ms. Zhang’s home on May 15, 2024. They promised her husband they would only give her a one-year prison sentence if he cooperated with them to hold a hearing at his home. Eager to protect his wife, Ms. Zhang’s husband persuaded her to do the at-home trial in order to get a lighter sentence.
Judge Li sentenced Ms. Zhang to one year in prison with two years probation at the end of the hearing. She refused to sign the court proceedings, so her husband signed it on her behalf as he was still led to believe that he had to cooperate in order to “seal” the lighter sentence.
A clerk delivered an official verdict to Ms. Zhang’s home on May 28, 2024. Her husband received it and immediately hid it without reading the content. He thought it was the same one-year-term-with-two-year-probation. Additionally, he did not want his wife to see the verdict and protest it.
The court recently notified Ms. Zhang to have a physical exam in preparation for prison admission. Her husband was shocked, because he thought his wife would only need to serve a probationary term as promised. The court reminded him that his wife had actually been sentenced to four and a half years with a 9,000-yuan fine. He then took out the official verdict and saw it was not the light sentence he thought it was.
2.3.2 Retired Clothing Factory Worker Sentenced to 3.5 Years Based on Fabricated Evidence
Ms. Yuan Junhua, 60, from Shouguang City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 30,000-yuan fine on September 19, 2024, based on fabricated evidence.
Ms. Yuan, who was retired from the Xianxia Clothing Factory, was arrested at home on the morning of July 28, 2023. During the interrogation, the police attempted to force her to admit that she had delivered the Falun Gong booklets found in an apartment building in the Yizhong Garden Neighborhood in February 2023. The police threatened to take her to the detention center if she refused to admit having distributed the materials. Her one-year-old grandson was at home by himself following her arrest and his parents were working out of town, so Ms. Yuan agreed to the allegation against her will early in the afternoon. She was released the next day.
A few days later, the police harassed Ms. Yuan at home and videotaped her. They threatened to put her unde house arrest. Ms. Yuan said that she didn’t distribute the materials as alleged and that it was the police who violated the law by holding her at the police station for over 24 hours and intimidating her into admitting to something she didn’t do. The police ignored her.
The police later submitted Ms. Yuan’s case to the Shouguang City Procuratorate, which indicted her and moved her case to the Shouguang City Court on December 7, 2023.
Upon receiving a notification of the upcoming trial on December 28, 2023, Ms. Yuan was forced to live away from home to avoid being tried. She was followed by the police when she returned home on June 13, 2024, and arrested at her rental place hours later. She was admitted to the detention center the same day.
Ms. Yuan was tried in the Shouguang City Court on July 4, 2024. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea for her.
During her second hearing on September 2, Ms. Yuan was taken into the courtroom handcuffed and shackled. Her ankles were bleeding from rubbing against the shackles.
Prosecutor Sang brought in a box filled with Falun Gong materials and accused Ms. Yuan of distributing them. Her lawyer asked Sang where he had gotten the materials and whether he had any evidence to show that his client had distributed them. Sang did not reply.
The judge announced on September 19, 2024, that Ms. Yuan was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 30,000-yuan fine.
2.4 Repeated Persecution
2.4.1 Gansu Man Arrested After Ten Years in Displacement, Sentenced to Prison Three Weeks Later
After being forced into displacement for ten years to avoid being persecuted, Mr. Ma Zufu, a 60-year-old native of Baiyin City, Gansu Province, was arrested in his rental place in Lanzhou City of the same province on July 13, 2024, and sentenced to 1.5 years on August 6, 2024.
Since the Chinese Communist Party began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, Mr. Ma, a former middle school Chinese teacher, has been arrested multiple times and given two labor camp terms.
Five police officers descended on Mr. Ma’s home on the evening of May 31, 2012. They spent over an hour trying to pry open his door but could not. They pounded on the door, bu Mr. Ma refused to open it. At around 10 p.m., the police called in a fire truck so that they could climb into his home using the ladder. Mr. Ma and his wife, Ms. Hao Guofang, also a Falun Gong practitioner, were both arrested. The police confiscated their Falun Gong books and a picture of Falun Gong’s founder. They took the couple to the Jingtai County Police Department, restrained them on tiger benches and interrogated them.
Mr. Ma was transferred to the Jingtai County Detention Center and and Ms. Hao to the Baiyin City Detention Center the next day. They were released on bail after 35 and 37 days, respectively.
The couple were summoned to the Jingtai County Court on July 4, 2014. Judge Jin Zhao read aloud their indictment and ordered the bailiff to handcuff them. Ms. Hao was taken to the Baiyin City Detention Center. Mr. Ma was denied admission to the detention center after he was found to have high blood pressure, a heart condition, cholecystitis, and gallstones. Judge Zhu Shengkai approved his bail release pending trial. To avoid being sentenced, he decided to live away from home to hide from the police, only to be arrested ten years later and sentenced to prison in just three weeks.
Ms. Hao was sentenced to three years on January 26, 2015, and transferred to the Lanzhou Women’s Prison on February 4, 2015.
Ms. Liu Chunxia, 56, from Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, was sentenced on August 30, 2024, to three and a half years and fined 10,000 yuan for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Liu was seized at work around 5 p.m. on May 6, 2023, 13 days before the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit was to be held in Xi’an. The event was attended by Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
According to the arresting officers, the local authorities were carrying out an operation dubbed “net-tightening” ahead of the summit. Usually, before major events or political meetings to be held in a certain city, the authorities often ramp up the arrests and harassment of Falun Gong practitioners in order to prevent them from raising awareness of the persecution and “causing trouble” for the regime.
After the Lianhu District Detention Center refused to admit Ms. Liu after she was found to have a blood pressure reading of 234 mm Hg (normal is 120 or lower), the police drove her to the Chang’an District Ankang Hospital.
Ankang Hospitals across China are psychiatric hospitals overseen by their local police departments. They are used to detain people who have harmed individuals or society but have not been held criminally liable due to their mental illnesses. In the persecution of Falun Gong, these hospitals have often been used to hold practitioners who have no mental health issues. They are then subjected to involuntary administration of psychiatric drugs, which can result in long-lasting damage.
Ms. Liu’s son said she was totally healthy, both physically and mentally, before her arrest, and he suspected her hypertension was a result of the abuse she suffered in police custody.
The Huyi District Procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant for Ms. Liu on June 13, 2023, and she was transferred from the Chang’an District Ankang Hospital to the Lianhu District Detention Center on July 18. Her case was moved to the Lianhu District Procuratorate in mid-August 2023.
Ms. Liu was indicted on October 20 and she stood trial at the Lianhu District Court on December 7, 2023. Her second hearing was on April 16, 2024, and she was convicted on August 30, 2024.
This is not the first time that Ms. Liu, an engineer by training, has been targeted for her faith. She was sentenced to five years in prison after an arrest in October 2001 for attending an experience sharing conference held by local Falun Gong practitioners. Her term was extended by 70 days and she wasn’t released until December 9, 2006.
Her employer at the time, Huibang Company of the Huian Group in Shaanxi Province, fired her after she was released. She had to do odd jobs to make a living. She was arrested again on March 21, 2017, and sentenced to four years in prison on January 4, 2018. Her husband divorced her during her imprisonment. She moved in with her son after she was released in March 2021 and landed a job at a property management company.
Related Reports of Death Cases:
Reported in First Half of 2024: 68 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution
Reported in April and May 2024: 24 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution
Reported in March 2024: 13 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution
Reported in February 2024: 10 Falun Gong Practitioners Die as a Result of Persecution
Reported in January 2024: 13 Falun Gong Practitioners Die in the Persecution
Related Reports of Sentencing Cases:
Reported in July and August 2024: 94 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in the First Half of 2024: 447 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in May 2024: 71 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in April 2024: 84 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in March 2024: 73 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in February 2024: 56 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in January 2024: 122 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith