(Minghui.org) Just 21 months after Ms. Zhang Juhong, a 54-year-old Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, resident, completed a 4.5-year prison term for her faith in Falun Gong, she was arrested again and sentenced to 7.5 years in February 2024, for putting up the word “福” (Luck) on her window to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
In Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, Mr. Qin Shuhai, 58, and Ms. Liu Yulan, 76, were arrested in January 2024 for distributing calendars bearing information about Falun Gong three months before. Mr. Qin’s wife, who had been incapacitated since 2013 after having a stroke, was devastated by his arrest. Her condition worsened quickly and she died 26 days later. Mr. Qin’s 81-year-old mother was also harassed and interrogated by the police. Mr. Qin himself later had a stroke in custody and lost mobility on one side of his body. The authorities, however, refused to release him and later sentenced him to three years. Ms. Liu Yulan, who suffered dangerously high blood pressure, received two years.
Ms. Yang Jie, a 63-year-old former employee of the Zhejiang Province Medicine and Health Products Import and Export Company, suddenly disappeared in November 2023. The police car that was parked outside her apartment building every day for three years was also gone. Her family weren’t able to confirm her arrest until May 2024. She stood trial on August 9, 2024 and was later sentenced to two years and ten months. Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Yang spent a total of 16 years behind bars for her faith, serving one labor camp term and three prison terms.
The above are just several examples of the 764 sentencing cases of Falun Gong practitioners that were newly reported in 2024. Twenty-five years after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered the eradication of Falun Gong, the persecution remains unabated. Like Ms. Zhang and Ms. Yang, many other practitioners have been repeatedly targeted for their faith, sometimes spending decades behind bars prior to their latest arrests and sentencing. The CCP also showed no leniency in sentencing elderly practitioners in their 70s, 80s or even 90s, with practitioners in their 80s receiving terms as long as 4.5 years. (The full list of practitioners sentenced can be downloaded here).
PART 1. OVERVIEW OF NEWLY REPORTED SENTENCING CASES
1.1. Newly Reported Sentences Occur in a Span of 7 Years
The 764 newly-confirmed sentencing cases in 2024 included 2 that took place in 2017 and 2019 respectively, 6 in 2020, 5 in 2021, 20 in 2022, 185 in 2023, 448 in 2024, and 98 cases for which the dates of sentencing are unknown.
The delay in reporting is caused by the CCP’s strict information censorship, which aims to keep the persecution of Falun Gong underground to avoid international scrutiny.
To keep the persecution going, the police have spared no efforts in monitoring practitioners’ daily lives and also seeking prosecution of practitioners who have stepped forward to seek justice for Falun Gong.
Ms. Gu Chunying, a 60-year-old Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province resident, was sentenced to a four-year prison term for talking to a boy about Falun Gong. Ms. Xue Shunrong, 49, of Huzhu County, Qinghai Province, was given six years on May 8, 2024 for posting videos about Falun Gong on Kuaishou, a popular short-form video platform, which had garnered over 100,000 views.
Some practitioners were also met with retaliation when they tried to seek justice or urge the police to not participate in the persecution.
Ms. Yang Li, 71 and of Chongqing, went to the local police station in February 2024 and gave the officers a leaflet about Falun Gong, hoping they could learn the facts about the persecution. Instead of reading it, the police put the leaflet in a plastic bag and said it was “evidence” that she broke the law. Ms. Yang was sentenced to 1.5 years on September 30, 2024.
Since the CCP began to persecute Falun Gong in 1999, Ms. Sun Shuyun, a Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province resident in her 70s, has been arrested more than ten times. After arresting her in July 2022, the police seized her Falun Gong books, portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, and her ID. Three months later in October 2022, the police began to monitor her daily activities.
Ms. Sun repeatedly urged the police to stop participating in the persecution and to return her ID and Falun Gong-related items, but to no avail. To seek justice, she filed a complaint against the police and local procuratorate. Instead of seeing her case addressed, Ms. Sun was arrested on May 20, 2023 and sentenced to six years on November 25, 2023.
Ms. Su Guiying’s pension was suspended in August 2020, days after she completed a four-year prison sentence for her faith in Falun Gong. She visited the local social security bureau numerous times to request reinstatement of her pension, but was always denied, and one worker even dared her to sue them. When she indeed filed complaints against the agency, the police arrested her in May 2023 and submitted her case to the procuratorate. She was sentenced to five years in May 2024.
1.2. Prison Terms and Fines
The Chinese Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced in February 2024 that in recent years, 85% of convicted criminals received three years or less, compared to 55% in 1999. Yet for the 764 sentencing cases of Falun Gong practitioners reported in 2024, their terms ranged from 3 months to 13 years, with 378 (49.5%) receiving three years or more. In particular, 101 (13.2%) practitioners were sentenced to 5 years or longer. This signifies more stringent sentencing criteria for Falun Gong practitioners, who have violated no laws in exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief.
A total of 263 practitioners were fined a total of 2,909,000 yuan. Two practitioners were fined 150,000 yuan each, 7 were fined between 50,000 and 90,000 yuan, 116 received fines between 10,000 and 40,000 yuan, and another 138 practitioners were fined between 1,000 and 8,000 yuan.
The longest prison term, 13 years, was given to Mr. Su Xiufu, a 59-year-old Nongan County, Jilin Province resident. He was convicted along with two other practitioners, Ms. Xu Yafen and Ms. Yin Guiying, in her 70s, both of whom were sentenced to 12 years. The three practitioners were arrested on August 24, 2022. The police had monitored them for more than six months before making the arrests.
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, having served an eight-year term between 2002 and 2010. Just last year, her nephew, Mr. Hou Lijun, was also sentenced to 10 years, after being forced to live away from home for over 20 years to avoid the police.
Ms. Li Wenyue, a 58-year-old farmer in Bazhou City, Hebei Province, was sentenced to eight years for posting information online exposing the persecution.
1.3. Practitioners of Different Age Groups Sentenced
The 416 practitioners whose ages at the time of sentencing are known are aged 29 to 94. Most of the lengthy terms were given to practitioners who were 50 or older.
The youngest practitioner is 29-year-old Ms. Chen Xuanru, of Qinzhou City, Guangxi Province, who became mentally ill and incapacitated after serving ten months in prison. The mother of two toddlers was arrested on her way to work on August 23, 2023 and later sentenced for “subverting state power” and “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement” – common pretenses for sentencing Falun Gong practitioners.
Another practitioner, 44-year-old Mr. Li Xueyi of Linxia City, Gansu Province, has been targeted for practicing Falun Gong since high school. Following an arrest on March 22, 2000, the then-high-school-senior was slapped in the face by the police so hard that he lost most of his hearing permanently. He later attended a college in Shaanxi Province, but was forced to drop out in 2002. Before his latest 3.5-year prison term, given some time in late 2023, he also served two one-year labor camp terms and a prison term of four years.
The oldest practitioner, Ms. Rao Jiyu, 94 and of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, was sentenced to 2.5 years in 2022. She was arrested in a park in 2020 after the police found Falun Gong materials on her.
Below are several more cases of elderly practitioners being sentenced.
Mr. Zhao Yungu, 86, from Bin County, Heilongjiang Province, was sentenced to 3.5 years and fined 30,000 yuan around September 2024. A retired small tractor factory worker, Mr. Zhao previously served two one-year labor camp terms and a seven-year prison term, before his latest sentence. His wife, Ms. Liu Shumei, a former business professional and also a practitioner, passed away from the persecution in 2019 at the age of 77.
Another 86-year-old practitioner, Ms. Liang Shuzhi of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was scheduled to be taken back in custody on December 30, 2024 to serve a three-year prison term handed down in March 2023. She was initially put on bail due to health reasons, but the judge who convicted her ordered her to start serving time right before the 2025 New Year.
Mr. Hu Biao, a 78-year-old retired health official, was sentenced to nine years in October 2023 and transferred to the Jiazhou Prison on November 3, 2023.
Despite the ongoing medical treatments that Ms. Zhao Ying required for her bladder cancer, heart disease and diabetes, the Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, resident in her 80s, was still taken back into custody and sentenced to 3.5 years in October 2024. The authorities have refused to release her on medical parole.
1.4. Sentenced Practitioners Come from Different Parts of the Country and from All Walks of Life
China has 22 provinces, 4 centrally controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and 5 autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Guangxi, Xinjiang, and Ningxia). Except for Tibet and Xinjiang, all other 29 jurisdictions reported sentencing cases in 2024. Shandong Province topped the list with 123 sentencing cases, followed by 105 in Liaoning and 81 in Jilin. Sixteen other jurisdictions also reported double-digit cases, and the remaining ten regions had single-digit cases.
The Wulian County Court in Rizhao City, Shandong Province, sentenced 21 practitioners to prison on December 25, 2023, charging them with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement.”
Another court in Changtu County, Liaoning Province convicted nine locals for distributing Falun Gong materials on March 25, 2024. Only three family members of each practitioner were allowed to attend the court session.
In Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, four practitioners were sentenced in late December 2024. Mr. Li Zhuozhong and his wife, Ms. Liao Yuanqun, were both sentenced to ten years and fined a total of 150,000 yuan. Mr. Xie Yujun and Ms. Liao Juanna were each given five years and fined 70,000 yuan. Mr. Li’s mother was severely distressed by his and his wife’s arrests. She was hospitalized on July 10, 2024 and died weeks later. Mr. Li wasn’t allowed to visit her or attend her funeral.
While most practitioners were arrested and sentenced in their home provinces, some were arrested and prosecuted by out-of-province agencies.
Since 2019, the police in Henan Province have been traveling to other provinces to arrest Falun Gong practitioners who posted information on various social media platforms to expose the persecution. There were at least 22 documented arrests and twelve practitioners have been given prison terms ranging from 3 to 9.5 years. The latest victim is Ms. Wu Jiajian, a 40-year-old resident of Laixi City, Shandong Province. She was arrested at home on November 7, 2020 and later sentenced to six years by the Jianxi District Court in Luoyang City, Henan.
Another victim of an out-of-province sentencing case was Mr. Li Hongtao. The 48-year-old native of Shanxi Province was arrested at work in Luhe County, Guangdong Province, on April 20, 2023, by police from Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, for posting information about Falun Gong in WeChat groups. He was sentenced to three and a half years by the Taiyuan City Court in Shanxi Province. When he filed an appeal but his appeal was denied, the appeals judge said to him, “We don’t need to follow the law when it comes to dealing with you Falun Gong people.”
The sentenced practitioners came from all walks of life, and include teachers, doctors, farmers, nurses, accountants, engineers and former police officers.
Ms. Sheng Li, a 48-year-old owner of an export company in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on June 19, 2023, after being reported by a middle school student for giving him a Falun Gong booklet. She was sentenced to four years on May 13, 2024.
Ms. Jiang Yongqin, a former college lecturer in Jilin City, Jilin Province, was secretly sentenced to five years on January 24, 2024. She was arrested in June 2022 and tortured by the police, including being sexually assaulted, force-fed wasabi oil through her nose, and having lit cigarettes inserted into her nostrils.
PART 2. SENTENCING BY THE RUBBER STAMP SYSTEM
In any country governed by the rule of law, the prosecution bears the burden of proof, the suspect accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and their right to defend themselves should be protected. For Falun Gong cases in China, however, the prosecution has no legal basis from which to prosecute the practitioners in the first place and often fails to prove the four required elements of a crime. At the same time, the practitioners’ right to defend themselves is often violated at every step of the way, as China’s judiciary system is merely used as a tool to carry out the persecution.
2.1. No Legal Basis for Prosecution
According to China’s criminal law, in order to convict a suspect of any crime, the prosecution bears the burden of proof and must show that: 1) the suspect is mentally competent and understands the consequences of their actions, 2) the suspect must have had a criminal intent to cause harm, 3) the suspect must have committed a criminal act, and 4) the criminal act must have violated the legal rights of others (for instance, the criminal act of murder violates the victim’s legal right to live). While the prosecutors in Falun Gong cases were able to prove the first element, they failed to satisfy the other three elements.
Falun Gong practitioners strive to live by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and never set out to harm anyone when they practice their spiritual belief or exercise their constitutional right to tell others about their practice. As such, the prosecution cannot prove that the practitioners have criminal intent.
In order to prove that practitioners have committed a criminal act, the prosecution often charges them, regardless of their gender, age, or social status, with violating Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which states that “anyone using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” China’s law-making body, the People’s Congress, however, has never enacted a law criminalizing Falun Gong or labeling it a cult. As such, there are no legal grounds for such indictments and subsequent sentencings.
During the hearing of thirteen Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province residents on May 22, 2024, prosecutor Guo Juncheng charged all thirteen with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement.” Without any legal basis, he accused the 13 practitioners of using their “thoughts” to interfere with court proceedings and undermine law enforcement, because they showed up at the hearing of another group of practitioners years before to show their moral support.
In other cases, the prosecutors in Falun Gong cases cite as legal basis a statutory interpretation of Article 300 of the Criminal Law issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate in November 1999 that required that anyone practicing or promoting Falun Gong be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. A new statutory interpretation replacing the 1999 version, however, took effect on February 1, 2017. The new interpretation made no mention of Falun Gong and emphasized that any indictment against anyone engaging in a cult must be based on solid legal grounds. Since no enacted law in China labels Falun Gong as a cult, the indictment and subsequent sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners based on the statutory interpretation again lacks a legal basis.
To show that practitioners have violated others’ rights, the prosecutors often cite as evidence Falun Gong books and informational materials confiscated from their homes, referencing two notices issued by China’s Administration of Press and Publications in July 1999 that banned the publication of Falun Gong books. However, the Administration repealed that ban in 2011, making it completely legal for practitioners to own and disseminate Falun Gong books and informational materials. Additionally, practitioners do not cause any harm to any individual or society at large through any of their actions.
2.2. Judiciary System Becomes a Rubber Stamp in the Persecution
The CCP carries out the persecution through three major channels: the Political and Legal Affairs Committee (PLAC), the 610 Office, and the judiciary system (which includes the public security organs, the procuratorates, the courts, and the justice bureaus). Both the PLAC and the 610 Office are extrajudicial agencies tasked with overseeing the persecution and are given the power to override the judiciary system.
Over the past 25 years of the persecution of Falun Gong, the judiciary has become a rubber stamp for carrying out the suppression. The police often arrest practitioners without probable cause, the procuratorates indict practitioners without any legal basis, and the courts hand down pre-determined prison sentences. The justice bureaus—the administrative arm of the judiciary system—often aid in the persecution by obstructing practitioners’ and their lawyers’ efforts to seek justice. There have been many cases of justice bureaus refusing to renew lawyers’ law licenses without any sound reasons in their attempts to stop the lawyers from representing Falun Gong practitioners in court.
The communist regime has never followed the law in prosecuting law-abiding Falun Gong practitioners. Chinese courts are often instructed to hand down prison sentences to innocent Falun Gong practitioners simply for their spiritual belief.
In many regions, the CCP has designated certain courts to handle Falun Gong cases, in order the expedite the process. One such example is the Jiedong District Court in Jieyang City, Guangdong Province. Since 2020, it has sentenced at least 21 practitioners to prison. The latest victim is Ms. Zhu Meiling, a 62-year-old Huilai County resident who was sentenced to three years in early 2024.
After Ms. Zhou Qunhui, 67 and of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, was arrested on March 15, 2023, the police never updated her family about her case status. In October 2023, her family learned that she had been indicted. When they went to the court to ask about her situation, they were told that presiding judge Zhang Yujuan had already held two hearings on her case.
When they asked Zhang about Ms. Zhou’s case, Zhang replied, “The verdict is in the drawer. It will be between one and three years. You aren’t allowed to hire a lawyer or appeal. It’s useless and a waste of money.” He sentenced Ms. Zhou to three years and two months on December 9, 2023.
Ms. Zhou’s family hired a lawyer to appeal her wrongful conviction. But judge Yin Guofu of the appeals court said to the lawyer that he had no say over the appeals outcome and issued a pre-determined ruling days later that the guilty verdict would stand.
When Mr. Chen Xingbo, a 72-year-old former radio station chief editor from Xingtai City, Hebei Province, filed a complaint against the social security bureau for unlawfully suspending his pension, the judge said to him, “We can be lenient regarding murder or arson, but not for Falun Gong cases.”
During Ms. Nie Jing’s hearing on October 9, 2024, the judge demanded that the Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, resident only answer “Yes” or “No” to his questions. When Ms. Nie recounted how her stomach and kidney conditions disappeared one month after she took up Falun Gong in 1997, the judge interrupted her and said, “Are you a Chinese? Can’t you understand Chinese [referring to the “yes-or-no” requirement]?”
2.3. Violation of Legal Procedures
The authorities have violated the law at every step of the prosecution process in Falun Gong cases. In a number of cases, the police arrested the practitioners and ransacked their homes without proper warrants. When the practitioners’ cases reached the procuratorate, their lawyers and families were kept in the dark about their case status or were not allowed to review the case documents. One court forged a lawyer’s signature to indicate that he had read his client’s indictment, when in fact he was only allowed to take a look at the document for the first time during his client’s court hearing. Another practitioner’s husband was listed as the sole prosecution witness, although he never said anything that would incriminate his wife when the police interrogated him.
2.3.1. Violent Arrests
The village security director and several police officers went to Mr. Li Yuanming’s home in Nongan County, Jilin Province on February 28, 2023, and attempted to collect his saliva and take his photo. After the police left, Mr. Li hid at his neighbor’s home, but was still arrested on March 3, 2023.
According to those who witnessed his arrest, the officers kicked him down, held him on the ground face down, and handcuffed his arms behind his back. They grabbed him by his legs and dragged him along the ground. His pants were almost pulled off. They pulled up his pants and kept dragging him—all the way from his neighbor’s front yard to his front yard and to the main street behind his house, where they’d parked their cruiser. They took pictures of him, covered his face with his clothing, and shoved him into the cruiser.
The police also raided Mr. Li’s home, confiscating his Falun Gong books, laptop, printer, and a Falun Gong banner he used at a practice site before the persecution started. Tens of thousands of yuan in cash he’d stored in a bag also disappeared. His father only saw an empty money bag on the ground.
The police refused to tell Mr. Li’s family anything about his situation. The family was finally able to confirm in January 2024 that he had been sentenced to four years. He was also denied family visits by the prison because he refused to renounce Falun Gong.
Ms. Luo Fenghua, a 71-year-old resident of Hengyang City, Hunan Province, was arrested on June 27, 2023 after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong.
Without showing an arrest warrant or any identification, the police detained Ms. Luo in the police station for eight hours before transferring her to the local lockup at around 11 p.m. Six officers handcuffed her so roughly that a piece of flesh nearly two inches long was torn off her left thumb. The police offered no treatment for her bleeding finger and detained her overnight in a cold, dark room.
Freezing and hungry, Ms. Luo was taken to the hospital for a physical exam at 10 a.m. the next day. She refused to cooperate with the exam, so the police falsified reports of her exam. By the time she was taken to the detention center at around 4:30 p.m., she hadn’t eaten for over 40 hours and was so weak that the police had to find a wheelchair for her.
On the day of her hearing on November 17, 2022, because Ms. Luo refused to get out of the car upon arrival at the court, an officer dragged her all the way into the courthouse, before throwing her into a chair in a small room. Her feet dragged against the ground and her top was lifted and wrapped around her head, making it difficult for her to breathe. Her upper body was also completely exposed.
When Ms. Luo refused to enter the courtroom, the judges and clerk went to the little room and announced that she was sentenced to 12 months with 15 months’ probation and a 10,000-yuan fine. She was taken to the Hunan Province Women’s Prison in early 2024, even though she wasn’t originally required to serve time in prison given her probation.
2.3.2. Deceit by the Police Before Arrests
Four Suizhou City, Hubei Province residents were seized from their homes around 11 p.m. on August 3, 2023. The police later revealed that they arranged a plainclothes officer to rent the apartment next door to Ms. He Zhuojun’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 of the practitioners’ cases on June 27, 2024. The judge sentenced them in September 2024. Ms. He and Mr. Leng Shunchang were sentenced to 7.5 years and fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Peng Huayun and Ms. Gong Taiqing were each given two years with a 3,000-yuan fine.
2.3.3. Shaky Prosecution Evidence and Witness Accounts
Ms. Wei Chunrong, 72, from Qingdao City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to three and a half years and fined 10,000 yuan on January 11, 2024. The verdict bore the seal of the Jimo District Court in Qingdao City and was dated January 11, 2023, a glaring mistake the court did not notice.
The judge listed two prosecution witnesses in the verdict – food delivery worker Chu Jiajia from the Meituan Takeout and his manager Yu Xiangqian – even though Ms. Wei only spoke with Chu. The verdict also cited a branch of Meituan Takeout in the Chengyang District as the location where Ms. Wei talked to Chu about Falun Gong. However, there is no such branch at the said location.
Other prosecution evidence included 2,242 Falun Gong-related audio and video files found on the five memory cards confiscated from Ms. Wei’s home. Prosecutor Wang accused Ms. Wei of trying to recruit Chu into the “Falun Gong organization” and of being a “repeat offender” (she was previously twice sentenced for her faith). The verdict also stated that Ms. Wei’s talking to Chu about Falun Gong was “authenticated” as cult propaganda even though no law in China has criminalized Falun Gong or labeled it a cult.
Ms. Yuan Junhua, a 60-year-old retiree of a clothing factory in Shouguang City, Shandong Province, was arrested at home on July 28, 2023. 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. Because her one-year-old grandson was at home by himself following her arrest and his parents were working out of town, Ms. Yuan agreed to the allegation against her will early in the afternoon. She was released the next day.
The police later submitted Ms. Yuan’s case to the Shouguang City Procuratorate. When she appeared in the Shouguang City Court on July 4, 2024, 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.
Mr. Wang Jian, 55, and Ms. Yang Shuyu, 64, of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, stood trial at the Ganjingzi District Court on November 2, 2024. Mr. Wang was shocked to see that the computer and printer left by his late father, Mr. Wang Yunting, also a Falun Gong practitioner, were used as prosecution evidence against him. Mr. Wang was later sentenced to four years and Ms. Yang received three years.
2.3.4. Denied Lawyers’ Visits
Mr. Zhang Xuefu, a 51-year-old private school owner from Sanhe City, Hebei Province, was arrested on July 14, 2023. He condemned the police for arresting him without showing any IDs or an arrest warrant. The police then sent an officer to go to the police department to fetch a temporary arrest warrant.
The police accused Mr. Zhang of distributing Falun Gong materials in a residential area. But they only had footage of Mr. Zhang’s car entering and exiting the complex that day, and the doorbell videos of a man standing outside an apartment unit. The footage was only a few seconds long and very grainy. Yet the police “put two and two together” and concluded that Mr. Zhang was the suspect who distributed all the Falun Gong materials in the entire residential complex.
Mr. Zhang’s family later hired a lawyer for him. The first lawyer was denied visits with Mr. Zhang by the detention center and soon dropped his case. While the second lawyer was allowed to visit him, the detention center forced him to sign a non-disclosure agreement barring him from revealing to the outside world what Mr. Zhang had said to him. The lawyer also quit due to unknown personal reasons.
When the third lawyer applied to visit Mr. Zhang, the detention center claimed that no more lawyer visits for him were allowed because he had already seen two lawyers (even though the first lawyer was never allowed to see him). The third lawyer said that he was newly hired and that he had never met his client. He added that he had already submitted proof in the online appointment system showing that Mr. Zhang’s family had formally terminated his first two lawyers.
The guard on duty claimed that the proof did not meet the detention center’s requirements, as it must also bear seals of the first two lawyers’ law firms. Mr. Zhang’s third lawyer refuted that any client can terminate their attorney without the latter’s or their law firm’s consent. After several rounds of back and forth, the lawyer was finally allowed to see Mr. Zhang.
Mr. Zhang stood trial on January 5, 2024. Prosecutor Xu Lei recommended a prison term of three years and two months, which was exactly what Mr. Zhang’s family heard from an insider at the procuratorate three months before when he was indicted. When he was indeed given the exact prison sentence on January 29, 2024, it became obvious to his family that his term was pre-determined by the higher-ups.
2.3.5. Family Defenders Not Allowed to Review the Practitioners’ Case Files or Represent Them in Court
After six Chengdu City, Sichuan Province residents were arrested on May 24, 2023, four practitioners’ family members applied to be their respective non-lawyer defenders, yet the judge found all kinds of excuses to deny their applications.
When the judge rejected Ms. Li Tao’s husband, his argument was that her husband was a prosecution’s witness to her case because he answered the police officer’s questions about his wife’s reading Falun Gong books and doing the exercises at home when he picked up her personal items at the police station.
Ms. Xu Yueqin’s father-in-law was rejected because he also practices Falun Gong. He also wasn’t allowed to attend the hearing.
Ms. Luo Yi’s daughter was initially approved to be her family defender, but the judge did not allow her to review Ms. Luo’s case document and indictment, insisting that only a lawyer could do so. With no other options, the daughter hired a lawyer for her. When she went with the lawyer to the court to review her mother’s case document, judge Hu reversed his decision to allow her to be Ms. Hu’s family defender, with the excuse that she was pregnant.
In addition, the judge only allowed Ms. Luo’s lawyer to read and hand-copy the case document, without making photocopies or taking pictures of it. The lawyer filed a complaint against the judge, who eventually allowed him to make photocopies, but he was still not allowed to take pictures. The judge also ordered the lawyer to sign a confidentiality agreement.
2.3.6. Trial Court Lies About Prison Terms and Deceives Family Into Dropping Appeals Lawyers
The families of four Beijing practitioners, including Ms. Dong Xiurong, Ms. Liu Yuhong, Ms. Liu Xing, and Ms. Jin Shuying, were notified by the Daxing District Court around April 2023 that their loved ones had been sentenced, with Ms. Liu Yuhong receiving two years, Ms. Liu Xing one year and nine months, Ms. Dong one year and four months, and Ms. Jin one year. The practitioners’ families hired appeals lawyers for them, but the court deceived them into dropping the lawyers, claiming the practitioners would be released soon given their “light” sentences. The families thus dismissed the lawyers.
Ms. Jin’s family realized something was wrong in July 2023 when she was not released as scheduled. They found out around December 2023 that the court lied about the prison terms given to her and the other three practitioners. Ms. Jin, Ms. Liu Yuhong, and Ms. Liu Xing were all given four and a half years and fined 5,000 yuan, while Ms. Dong was sentenced to four years and fined 4,000 yuan.
Although Ms. Dong’s family managed to file an appeal on her behalf, the Beijing Intermediate Court turned it down at an unknown date. Her family were not allowed to visit her until around January 2024.
2.3.7. Forging Lawyer’s Signature
The Hanjiang Intermediate Court in Xiantao City, Hubei Province held an appeals hearing for two local women’s joint case on March 20, 2024. One of the defense lawyers pointed out that the trial court broke the law by forging his signature.
Ms. Yang Dongmei and Ms. Liu Yanqiu were arrested on May 7, 2023, when they were reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The Xiantao City Court heard the women’s joint case on October 19, 2023 and convicted them on November 29. Ms. Yang was sentenced to two years and three months and fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Liu was sentenced to one year and two months and fined 5,000 yuan.
During the appeal hearing, Ms. Liu’s lawyer testified against the Xiantao City Court for not allowing him to see his client’s indictment paper until the trial began on October 19, 2023. By law, lawyers should be given their clients’ indictment in advance so they can prepare their defense statement. In order to cover its mistake, the Xiantao City Court forged Ms. Liu’s lawyer’s signature on the indictment and claimed that he’d received it and signed the document before the trial.
2.3.8. Using Deceit to Change Probation to 4.5-Year Prison Sentence
The Yanqing District Court in Beijing sentenced Ms. Zhang Lianyu 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’s ordeal stemmed from her arrest six years before on May 14, 2018. After releasing her on bail the next day, the police kept harassing her 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.
Judge Li Shuang led several people to Ms. Zhang’s home on May 15, 2024 for her hearing. 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. The judge thus announced that Ms. Zhang was sentenced to one year in prison with two years’ probation. She refused to sign the court proceedings, so her husband signed it on her behalf.
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 assumed it was the same one-year-term with a two-year probation. Only when Ms. Zhang was notified by the court in September 2024 to do a physical exam in preparation for prison admission, did she and her husband realized that the judge had actually sentenced her to four and a half years with a 9,000-yuan fine. Her husband then took out the official verdict and saw that it was not the light sentence he thought it was.
PART 3. LONG-LASTING DAMAGE TO SENTENCED PRACTITIONERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
The wrongful sentences have not only injured the affected practitioners physically, psychologically, and financially, but have also traumatized their loved ones, who have become secondary victims of the relentless persecution.
3.1. Declining Physical Condition in Custody
Ms. Ran Guanquan, a 75-year-old Tianjin resident, was arrested on December 1, 2023 and taken to the Binhai New District First Detention Center. Starting in mid-February 2024, she began feeling weak. She needed help to walk and get out of bed. Her eyesight became blurry. She fainted twice and was incontinent. Her family said she was perfectly healthy before her arrest and they were worried that she became ill as a result of torture and abuse.
Shortly after Ms. Ran fell ill, she was taken to the Tanggu Hospital by Zhang Xiapeng, deputy head of the detention center, and two male guards. Because she refused to cooperate with Zhang during the examination, he slapped her in the face at least four times. Zhang also refused to reveal her examination results. Even though her symptoms persisted, the authorities refused to release her on bail.
Prosecutor Wang Tian threatened to get Ms. Ran sentenced to four years if she refused to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. She refused to comply and was sentenced to 2.5 years by the Binhai New District Court after two hearings on March 26 and April 2, 2024.
3.2. Livelihood Affected by the Persecution
3.2.1. Hubei Court Garnishes Almost Entire Bank Account of 75-Year-Old Widow Sentenced to 3 Years
After the husband of Ms. Yan Qing'e passed away, she relied on the 280-yuan survivor benefit and 140-yuan low income subsidy every month to get by.
When the 75-year-old Macheng City, Hubei Province resident went to her bank to make cash withdrawals on December 4, 2024, she was shocked to see that there was only a 12-yuan balance on her account. The teller showed her a transaction record dated December 2, where a staffer from the Macheng City Court had withdrawn 4,900 yuan from her account, which only had a 4,912-yuan balance to begin with.
Accompanied by her daughter, Ms. Yan went to the court the next day. Only her daughter was allowed inside to talk to the court staffer. The staffer said Ms. Yan had been sentenced to three years with a 5,000-yuan fine on July 4, 2024 for “promoting Falun Gong.” He claimed that she still owed them 100 yuan before driving the daughter out.
It’s not clear whether the court planned to take Ms. Yan into custody to serve the three-year term.
3.2.2.Oil Production Plant Driver Sentenced to Prison and Fired from His Job
Mr. Wang Yanming, 54, used to work at the Daqing No. 10 Oil Production Plant in Heilongjiang Province as a driver. He was arrested June 28, 2023 at his workplace. The police claimed that a surveillance camera recorded him putting up self-adhesive posters about Falun Gong near his home.
The police raided Mr. Wang’s home and confiscated his Falun Gong books, several Falun Gong bookmarks and some informational DVDs. They threatened his family that these materials were enough to get him sentenced. They also ordered his family to pressure Mr. Wang to give up practicing Falun Gong. Mr. Wang didn’t budge.
During the hearing by the High-tech Development Zone Court on September 25, 2023, none of Mr. Wang’s family were present. It’s not clear whether the court didn’t inform them of the hearing or they weren’t allowed to attend. Mr. Wang was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 20,000-yuan fine.
The leadership at the Daqing No. 10 Oil Production Plant fired Mr. Wang on January 18, 2024.
3.3. Impact on Families
The practitioners themselves aren’t the only victims of the persecution, which has also brought tremendous fear and pressure to their family members.
3.3.1. Families’ Predicament
Mr. Liu Zhiming, a 51-year-old Kunming City, Yunnan Province resident, was sentenced to 3.5 years and fined 10,000 yuan on April 22, 2024. Mr. Liu worked as a mail carrier and a ride-share driver before staying home full-time to care for his autistic sister and 9-year-old son. The family relied on the income of his wife, a babysitter. After Mr. Liu was arrested on November 16, 2023, his wife, Ms. Cheng Yun, 39, was also arrested and interrogated. Her deposition was used against him without her knowledge. She also lost her babysitting job due to the incident. She is now job hunting while caring for her son and trying to get her sister-in-law back home after the latter was forcibly taken to a psychiatric hospital by the authorities.
Mr. Liu Zhiming and his son
3.3.2. Entire Family Targeted
Ms. Sun Caiyan, of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on May 12, 2024 and later sentenced to three years and nine months.
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) struggle to live on their own.
3.3.3. Sole Caregiver of Her Husband, Chongqing Woman Has Bank Accounts Frozen When She Refuses to Report to Prison
Ms. Hu Kaijun, of Chongqing, was sentenced to five years with a 15,000-yuan fine on December 28, 2021. She appealed to the Chongqing Second Intermediate Court, which months later ruled to uphold her original verdict. She continued to appeal to the Chongqing High Court, which also denied her appeal on an unknown date.
Ms. Hu’s husband was diagnosed with late-stage throat cancer in 2014. His larynx was surgically removed and he can no longer talk. He also needs a special diet. Due to his condition, the couple struggled to find a good caregiver for him and Ms. Hu became his sole-caregiver. Her arrest and sentencing dealt a blow to her husband, and his condition worsened. He has now completely lost the ability to eat, and can only consume fluids.
Having targeted Ms. Hu repeatedly for her faith in Falun Gong, the local authorities knew her family situation well. In order to make her agree to report to prison after her latest appeal was denied, they made various promises about her husband’s care. When that did not work, they froze all of her bank accounts on June 28, 2024, along with the WeChat account she used to pay for her day-to-day expenses.
It’s not clear whether Ms. Hu has been taken back into custody.
3.3.4. Practitioner’s Daughter Harassed and Listed as a “Sensitive Individual”
Ms. Wang Yonghua’s family confirmed on April 20, 2024 that the Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province resident has been sentenced to three years for practicing Falun Gong. Prior to her latest sentencing, Ms. Wang had already served a 3.5-year prison term for her faith. Her husband, also a Falun Gong practitioner, died in 2017, five years after he completed a four-year term during which he endured relentless torture.
After Ms. Wang’s latest arrest, her daughter Ming (alias), who grew up witnessing her parents being persecuted, faced frequent police harassment. The media company she worked for was also forced by the police to fire her.
The police raided Ming’s home on July 14, 2023 and confiscated personal items worth tens of thousands of yuan. Their pretext for the home raid was that they were investigating her mother’s case.
Ming booked a trip to Beijing on March 22, 2024, but was forced by the police to cancel the trip. She complied. When she was trying to buy another ticket on April 22, she was still told that she wasn’t allowed to go to Beijing. The police said that she was on travel restriction and had to obtain their approval before traveling to Beijing. Ming managed to get the police to allow her to travel to Beijing but they insisted that she return that same day. On the day of her travel, she was stopped by a security officer at the train station and her bag was searched.
Ming later booked a vacation to South Korea. She spent tens of thousands of yuan on the hotel and flight tickets, but the customs officers stopped her and her seven-year-old daughter from boarding the flight and said the police ordered her to report to them immediately. She went to the police station and the police said they had listed her as a “sensitive individual” and put her under “close surveillance.” She wasn’t allowed to leave her city without their permission, much less leave the country. The police also threatened to force her husband’s employer to fire him.
3.3.5. Practitioner’s Son Forced to Sell His Private Clinic
Six years after Mr. Hu Biao, a 78-year-old retired health official in Gulin County, Sichuan Province, finished serving a 4.5-year term for practicing Falun Gong, the Gulin County Social Security Bureau suddenly called him, ordering him to return an “overpayment” of 231,816.42 yuan by March 2020. The “overpayment” was the pension payments issued to him to during his 4.5-year prison term.
Mr. Hu refused to pay because the pension benefits were his lawfully earned assets. The social security bureau and the police then began to harass him and his family. After he was forced to live away from home, the police harassed his son, a physician, and raided his private clinic. To avoid the harassment, his son was forced to pay the 231,816.42 yuan on his father’s behalf. He also paid a total of 21,500 yuan in fines levied by the local health and business agencies overseeing his clinic. He thought that’d be it, but the police still ordered him to persuade his father to renounce Falun Gong.
Dr. Hu knew his father would never give up his belief because there was nothing wrong with practicing Falun Gong, and the police kept harassing him and threatened to shut down his clinic and implicate his wife and son. Feeling hopeless and helpless, he sold his clinic.
3.3.6. Displaced Wife Calls for Police and Judiciary Officials to Release Her Wrongfully Jailed Husband
A married couple in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia was arrested on May 11, 2024, for their faith in Falun Gong. While Ms. Zhang Fengxia was released on bail one week later due to her severe heart condition, her husband Mr. Sun Xiaoming remained in custody and was sentenced to 2.5 years on October 28, 2024. Ms. Zhang, who didn’t show up for the hearing as she went into hiding to avoid the persecution, was put on the police wanted list.
While displaced, Ms. Zhang recently wrote a letter to the officials involved in the case, urging them not to persecute Falun Gong.
“I understand you are doing your job and you don’t get to make decisions on such cases. But I believe you still have the leeway to alleviate the persecution or give him a lighter sentence. I feel sad, seeing my husband still sentenced for breaking no law. I no longer have faith in the justice system in China and I was forced to live away from home,” she wrote in the letter.
“After so many years, you should be keenly aware that Falun Gong practitioners are all good people and it’s practiced by people around the world. I urge you to think about why we still hold fast to our faith despite facing such severe persecution in China.
“When I see people go on vacation or spend time with their families, I envy them. But facing such unprecedented suppression and the danger of being arrested and beaten to death at any time, how can I not be afraid or under pressure. Now I’m forced to live away from home, without knowing when I can return. I’m worrying about my husband who is serving time in prison, my elderly parents who need my care, and my son who just got married.
“Throughout our lives, we are constantly making different choices, big or small. We may be able to make up for small mistakes. But in front of the ultimate choice of right or wrong, life and death, making the wrong choice might bring eternal regrets to us. Don’t sell off your conscience for money or power. We all play a part in society and it’s our own choice as to which way to go.
Related Reports:
Reported in November 2024: 64 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in October 2024: 48 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
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
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