Reported in November 2024: 64 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
(Minghui.org) According to information collected by Minghui.org, 64 Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to prison in November 2024.
The newly confirmed cases include 58 that took place in 2024 and 6 at an unknown time. With ever stricter information censorship under the Chinese Communist Party, many details about the practitioners’ indictments, trials, and sentences were difficult (if not impossible) to collect, which caused further delay in reporting.
The sentenced Falun Gong practitioners are from 17 provinces or centrally-controlled municipalities. Liaoning topped the list with 10 cases, followed by Heilongjiang and Guangdong (8 cases each). The remaining 14 regions had between 1 and 7 cases.
Among the 38 practitioners whose ages at the time of sentencing are known (59% of the total), ages ranged from 43 to 82, including 3 in their 40s, 9 in their 50s, 13 in their 60s, 9 in their 70s, and 4 in their 80s.
Of note, an 80-year-old woman was sentenced to 3.5 years, despite her serious medical conditions, including bladder cancer, a heart condition, and diabetes.
Two former teachers also exhibited various illness symptoms in custody, including a 61-year-old woman who had difficulty walking, severe back problems, and excessive vaginal bleeding with extremely low hemoglobin, and a 60-year-old man who was abused to the point of becoming severely depressed and confused and developing heart palpitations. The female teacher was sentenced to 3.5 years and denied medical parole; the male teacher was admitted to prison on November 4, 2024 to serve a 1.5-year term.
The 64 practitioners’ prison terms ranged from 4 months to 10 years. The practitioner who received 10 years was a 62-year-old woman whose son was also sentenced with her, to 3.5 years. Just last year, the woman’s nephew, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was sentenced to 10 years after being forced to live away from home for over 20 years to avoid the persecution.
Since the onset of the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, the Chinese Communist Party has spared no effort in suppressing the practice. When a former radio station chief editor in Hebei Province filed a complaint against his local social security bureau for unlawfully suspending his pension, the judge in charge of his case said to him, “We can be lenient regarding murder or arson, but not for Falun Gong cases.”
The following are details of select sentencing cases. The full list of sentenced practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
Group Sentencing
Meizhou City, Guangdong Province: Six Women Sentenced to Up to 5.5 Years
In November 2024, six Meizhou City, Guangdong Province residents were sentenced to prison with heavy fines for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Zeng Xiuqiong, 59, was given 5.5 years and fined 90,000 yuan. Ms. Xie Guofen, 62, was given 4.5 years and fined 70,000 yuan. Ms. Li Lizhen, 64, was given 4 years and fined 60,000 yuan. Ms. Zhang Taofeng, 47, was given 2 years and fined 30,000 yuan. Ms. Liu Meifen, 43, and Ms. Huang Shuzhen, 75, were both sentenced to one year with 1.5 years probation and a 15,000-yuan fine.
During a joint hearing on September 29, 2024, four lawyers and several non-lawyer defenders represented the practitioners. Three of the lawyers entered not-guilty pleas for their clients.
The practitioners pointed out that no law in China has criminalized Falun Gong and that it is their constitutional right to study the Falun Gong teachings on their own or together. They also explained how they regained their health through practicing Falun Gong. The judges interrupted them several times during their testimony.
The practitioners also said the arresting officers failed to show their IDs or any search warrants during the arrests and home raids.
One lawyer said that his client never signed her name on the list of confiscated items, but he noted that the list had “Dafa” [note: Falun Gong is also known as Falun Dafa] and “Dafa disciple” written on it. He suspected that prosecutors wrote those words themselves. The latter denied having done so and said a family member of the practitioner signed the list next to “Dafa” and “Dafa disciple.”
When the lawyer requested that the family member appear in court to verify whether the signature was her handwriting, the prosecutors did not respond to the request.
Other lawyers refuted the prosecutors’ allegation that their clients broke the law by possessing Falun Gong books. They challenged the prosecutors to present the applicable legal basis for the charge, as otherwise the prosecutors had no evidence to show that any crimes were committed.
Suizhou City, Hubei Province: Four Locals Sentenced to 2 to 7.5 Years
Four Suizhou City, Hubei Province residents were sentenced from 2 to 7.5 years in September 2024 for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. He Zhuojun, 59, Mr. Leng Shunchang, 59, Ms. Peng Huayun, 72, and Ms. Gong Taiqing, 67, were seized from their respective homes around 11 p.m. on August 3, 2023. The police held them at the Suizhou City Detention Center and submitted their cases to the Suizhou City Procuratorate on December 4.
While in custody, Mr. Leng was handcuffed and shackled for 16 consecutive days. The handcuffs and shackles were linked in a way that rendered him unable to stand up straight. Yet the guards still forced him to clean the floor. Ms. He and Ms. Peng held hunger strikes to protest the persecution and became very weak.
The police later revealed that they arranged a plainclothes officer to rent the apartment next door to Ms. He’s. The officer pretended to be a cancer patient and asked Ms. He to teach him how to practice Falun Gong. After gaining her trust, the officer collected information about her and the other three practitioners she had contact with, resulting in their arrests.
The Zengdu District Court held a joint hearing on the practitioners’ cases on June 27, 2024. Their lawyers entered not guilty pleas and demanded their clients’ acquittal. The judge sentenced the practitioners in September 2024. Ms. He and Mr. Leng were sentenced to 7.5 years and fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Peng and Ms. Gong were each given two years with a 3,000-yuan fine.
Two Liaoning Residents Sentenced to Prison for Practicing Falun Gong
Two Dalian City, Liaoning Province residents were sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong in November 2024. Mr. Wang Jian, 55, was sentenced to four years. He has appealed the verdict. The other practitioner, Ms. Yang Shuyu, 64, received three years.
The two practitioners were arrested on February 23, 2024. Mr. Wang’s home was raided by officers from the Lijia Street Police Station, who had installed a tracking device on his private car months ago. They confiscated the computer and printer left by his late father, Mr. Wang Yunting, also a Falun Gong practitioner. Both items were later used as prosecution evidence against Mr. Wang Jian.
Mr. Wang held a hunger strike to protest the persecution. He fell into critical condition and was resuscitated in the hospital. Despite his condition, the police not only refused to release him, but also submitted his and Ms. Yang’s cases to the Ganjingzi District Procuratorate.
Mr. Wang and Ms. Yang appeared in the Ganjingzi District Court on November 2, 2024 and were convicted weeks later.
Sentencing of Elderly Practitioners
Cancer-Stricken Woman in Her 80s Sentenced to 3.5 Years, Denied Medical Parole
Ms. Zhao Ying, 80, was denied parole after she was sentenced to a 3.5-year term for her faith in Falun Gong, even though she is struggling with several serious medical conditions, including bladder cancer, a heart condition, and diabetes.
Ms. Zhao, of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on April 26, 2021. After the Tianhe District Detention Center refused to admit her the next day due to her high blood pressure, the police made two more attempts to detain her over the next two days, but were unsuccessful. She was released on bail on May 11, 2021. The police harassed her in late May and again in August 2021.
The mental pressure from the arrest and subsequent harassment took a toll on Ms. Zhao’s health. She fainted at home on December 12, 2021, and was diagnosed with bladder cancer. She had two surgeries and several rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Despite Ms. Zhao’s condition, the police still took her back into custody on August 1, 2024, and put her in the Tianhe District Detention Center. She was made to stand trial in the Haizhu District Court on September 5 and sentenced to 3.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine on October 29, 2024.
82-Year-Old Woman Sentenced to Three Years
Ms. Gu Xuemin, an 82-year-old Zhoukou City, Henan Province resident, was sentenced to three years and fined 10,000 yuan on October 8, 2024 for practicing Falun Gong.
While on her way to visit a relative in the Huaiyang District in Zhoukou on April 12, 2024, Ms. Gu was arrested after being reported by Qin Shimin for talking to him about Falun Gong. The police ransacked her home, confiscating her two Falun Gong books and a media player. Due to her high blood pressure, the local detention center refused to admit Ms. Gu and she was released on bail the next morning.
The police later submitted Ms. Gu’s case to the local procuratorate. The Huaiyang District Court held a closed-door trial on October 8, 2024. Only five people were present, including two judges, the prosecutor, Ms. Gu, and her lawyer. The judges sentenced her at the end of the trial. She appealed the verdict.
Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Gu has been repeatedly arrested over the past 25 years for upholding her faith. Her three-year prison sentence in 2006 dealt her husband a heavy blow. He lost his appetite and often wept. Yet the authorities still harassed and intimidated him on occasion. When Ms. Gu was released from prison, her husband was already in a vegetative state. He passed away years later.
Families Targeted
U.S. Resident’s Sister Sentenced to 10 Years and Nephew to 3.5 Years
Two years after Ms. Kang Shumei and her son, Mr. Zhang Gu, both from Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, were arrested for practicing Falun Gong, they were convicted, receiving 10 and 3.5 years, respectively. This is the second time that Ms. Kang has been sentenced for her faith in Falun Gong, having served an eight-year term between 2002 and 2010.
After their appeals were denied, Ms. Kang was admitted to the Shanxi Province Women’s Prison and Mr. Zhang to Jinzhong Prison.
Ms. Kang’s sister, Ms. Karen Kang, of Los Angeles, U.S., condemned the Chinese Communist Party for persecuting her relatives. She called on the international community to pay attention to the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong in China.
Karen Kang at a rally on Santa Monica Pier Park on July 28, 2024 calling for the end of persecution of Falun Gong.
Karen is also seeking justice for her other nephew, Mr. Hou Lijun, the son of her other sister, Ms. Kang Shuqin, who passed away in 2020, after serving an 11-year term for her faith in Falun Gong. Mr. Hou is currently serving a 10-year term for practicing Falun Gong. He held a hunger strike to protest the persecution and was brutally force-fed. Critical condition notices have been issued for him at least three times.
This was also the second time that Ms. Kang Shumei, 62, a former employee of the Seventh Division of the Ministry of Coal Industry, has been given a lengthy term for practicing Falun Gong. After she escaped an arrest in February 2001, she went into hiding. After more than a year of displacement, Ms. Kang was arrested in October 2002 and sentenced to eight years. Her son Mr. Zhang Gu was only around 13 at the time.
Ms. Sun Caiyan, a Dalian City, Liaoning Province resident, was recently sentenced to three years and nine months for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Sun was arrested on May 12, 2024 and stood trial at the Ganjingzi District Court on September 9, 2024. It is unclear when exactly she was sentenced following her hearing.
Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Ms. Sun’s family has been repeatedly targeted. She was previously sentenced to three years and three months after an arrest in 2014. Her husband, Mr. Guo Qi, who lived under tremendous pressure over the years, died on June 15, 2021, at the age of 51. The mental pressure from the persecution also took a toll on the health of her father-in-law and father, who died in June 2016 and 2019, respectively.
Ms. Sun’s 85-year-old mother, Ms. Wang Yuhe, finished serving a 3-year term in September 2024 for practicing Falun Gong, only to see her daughter prosecuted. The older woman is now having mobility issues and blurred vision from cataracts. She and her 16-year-old grandson (Ms. Sun’s son) are having a difficult time, living on their own.
Inner Mongolian Man Sentenced to 2.5 Years and Wife on Wanted List
Mr. Sun Xiaoming and Ms. Zhang Fengxia, a married couple in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, were arrested on May 11, 2024. They were taken to the Hongshan District Detention Center. Ms. Zhang’s systolic blood pressure shot up to over 200 mmHg (a normal range is 120 or lower) and she was released on bail one week later. Afterwards she went into hiding.
The Hongshan District Procuratorate issued formal arrest warrants for the couple in early June. The Hongshan District Court scheduled a first hearing for October 11, 2024, but Ms. Zhang did not show up as she was still in hiding. Mr. Sun’s lawyer entered a not guilty plea for him.
A sentencing hearing was held on October 28, and Mr. Sun was sentenced to two and a half years. Because Ms. Zhang was still a no-show, the police put her on the wanted list and staked agents outside the homes of her relatives in an attempt to catch her.
Following the couple’s arrest, their son wrote an open letter calling for his parents’ release and explained how Falun Gong changed their lives for the better, but that the communist regime targeted them repeatedly for their faith.
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