(Minghui.org) Four Falun Gong practitioners in Yishui County, Shandong Province, were sentenced to prison on January 6, 2026.
Ms. Ma Huaizhen, 63, was given five years with a 50,000-yuan fine. Her husband, Mr. Li Yifang, was given one year and fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Li Yujuan and her daughter, Ms. Hui Xiaoli, were each sentenced to two years and fined 20,000 yuan.
The four practitioners were arrested on April 1, 2025, and their homes were ransacked by Yishui County Domestic Security Office agents. The female practitioners were taken to the Linyi City Detention Center and Mr. Li was admitted to the Yishui County Detention Center. Linyi City oversees Yishui County.
The Yishui County Domestic Security Office issued formal arrest warrants for the four practitioners on April 25, 2025. In June 2025, the police submitted the case to the Yishui County Procuratorate, which then forwarded it to the Yinan County Procuratorate. Prosecutor Liu Lanqi indicted the practitioners on July 11, 2025, and moved the case to the Yinan County Court.
Judge Yin Chuanwei initially scheduled a hearing for August 12, 2025, and later postponed it to September 9, before eventually holding a trial on October 14, 2025. He secretly sentenced the practitioners on January 6, 2026. The practitioners’ lawyers didn’t receive the verdicts until January 19. When Ms. Ma’s lawyer went to the Linyi City Detention Center to visit her, she had already been transferred to the Shandong Province Women’s Prison, along with Ms. Li and Ms. Hui. Mr. Li remains at the detention center.
Since January 2019, prosecutors Liu and Zhou Weiwei (also of the Yinan County Procuratorate), and judge Yin have indicted and convicted more than ten practitioners before the above four practitioners.
Ms. Ma’s Past Persecution
Ms. Ma Huaizhen has been repeatedly targeted, especially in the early years of the persecution, for upholding her faith.
She was arrested in January 2000 and held at the Chengjiao Police Station for a month. In Spring that year, she was arrested again and detained for two weeks; the police extorted 1,500 yuan from her. Her next arrest was in the winter of 2000, and she was held at the Fengjiazhuang Brainwashing Center for a month and was forced to pay living expenses totaling 3,000 yuan.
In the Spring of 2001, Ms. Ma was held at the Nanzhuang Village Office for a day and then transferred to a local detention center for a month, followed by another month at the Fengjiazhuang Brainwashing Center. While in the brainwashing center, she was beaten, slapped in the face, forced to stand or squat for long hours, deprived of sleep, and held in a dark room for extended periods of time. She was again forced to pay 3,000 yuan for living expenses. After that, Ms. Ma was held at a township government office for one month and the Nanzhuang Village Office for another month. Although she was allowed to go home, she was placed under strict management. The police arrested her again a month later and took her to the Wangcun Brainwashing Center, where she was held for another month.
Ms. Ma was arrested again on November 6, 2010, while distributing informational materials about Falun Gong.
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