Reported in July and August 2024: 94 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
(Minghui.org) A total of 94 cases of Falun Gong practitioners being sentenced for their faith were reported in July and August 2024.
The newly reported cases included one that took place in 2020, ten in 2023, fifty-five in 2024, and twenty-eight with unknown sentencing 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.
The sentenced practitioners hailed from 18 provinces and 3 centrally controlled municipalities. Shandong, Jilin, and Sichuan topped the list with 17, 14, and 11 cases, respectively. The remaining 18 regions had single digit cases between 1 and 6.
The practitioners’ terms ranged from 3 months to 9 years, with 8 practitioners receiving 5 years or more. Twenty-eight practitioners were fined a total of 186,500 yuan, averaging 7,173 per person.
Among the 52 practitioners whose ages at the time of sentencing were known, they were between 40 and 86, including 4 practitioners who were in their 40s, 16 in their 50s, 7 in their 60s, 19 in their 70s, and 6 in their 80s.
The following are details of select sentencing cases. The full list of sentenced practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
Sentencing of Elderly Practitioners
86-Year-Old Retired Physician Jailed to Serve 1.5 Years, Having Previously Been Given 7 Years
Ms. Wang Songxia, an 86-year-old retired physician in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, was arrested on May 8, 2022, when she was exchanging Falun Gong informational materials with another practitioner. According to an insider, the police had tapped their phones and learned about their plan to meet that day.
Ms. Wang was released on bail the next day, but faced constant harassment at home. She received a copy of her indictment on July 3, 2023. The local court later sentenced her to 1.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine at an unknown date. She was admitted to the Shaanxi Province Women’s Prison in June 2024.
Mr. Pang Shanxi, a 77-year-old resident of Wudalianchi City, Heilongjiang Province, wrote a letter to the local Longzhen Farm Police Station in April 2023, urging them not to participate in the persecution of Falun Gong. The police station reported him to its supervising agency, the Wudalianchi City Police Department. Together the two agencies dispatched agents to raid Mr. Pang’s home and confiscate his Falun Gong books.
The Nenjiang City Court sentenced Mr. Pang to three years in prison with a 10,000-yuan fine in January 2024. He was taken to the Beian Prison shortly afterwards and transferred to the Tailai Prison a month later.
78-Year-Old Woman Sentenced to 18 Months for Practicing Falun Gong After Repeated Harassment
Ms. Zhu Jingrong, a 78-year-old resident of Chonqing, was reported to the police for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong on June 5, 2023, and arrested two days later. When being interrogated by the police, she tried to clarify the facts about Falun Gong to the police and urged them not to participate in the persecution. She was released on bail on June 8, after the local detention center refused to admit her due to her high blood pressure.
The police took Ms. Zhu back to the Caijia Police Station on July 18, 2023 and questioned her about where she got her Falun Gong materials and who printed the messages on the paper currency. She refused to answer. The police eventually forced her to sign an acknowledgment of the items confiscated from her before allowing her to go home.
For the next few months, the police kept harassing Ms. Zhu and ordered her to go to the police station to sign certain documents. Her 80-year-old husband was terrified and he developed high blood pressure.
Ms. Zhu was tried by the Jiangbei District Court on May 8, 2024. The court informed her on June 25 that they would announce her verdict at 3 p.m. the next day. She went to the court the next afternoon and was sentenced to 18 months. She refused to sign the verdict and filed an appeal.
73-Year-Old Man’s Prison Sentence Changed from 3.5 Years to 5 Years With No Explanation
Four months after Mr. Liu Ji, a 73-year-old resident of Yongji County, Jilin Province, was sentenced to three and a half years for practicing Falun Gong, the presiding judge changed his sentence to five years without offering an explanation.
Mr. Liu was arrested on October 30, 2023. Due to his poor health, the local detention center refused to admit him and he was then released on one-year bail. The Chuanying District Procuratorate summoned him twice in March 2024. That same month, he was made to report to the Chuanying District Court three times and sentenced to three and a half years.
Mr. Liu was ordered to serve time at the Yongji County Detention Center, but was denied admission after he was found to have high blood pressure. The court then put him under house arrest for six months.
The police took Mr. Liu to the court on July 8, 2024 and he was told he was sentenced to five years. He was confused, as he had already been sentenced to 3.5 years only four months ago, but judge Li did not offer any explanation.
71-Year-Old Woman Secretly Sentenced to Four Years
For a year after Ms. Zhang Jun was arrested for her faith in Falun Gong, the police kept her family in the dark of her whereabouts and case status. It wasn’t until April 2024 that the police informed her family that she had been secretly sentenced to four years. The reason that the police finally contacted Ms. Zhang’s loved ones was to collect the 20,000-yuan court fine she was ordered to pay. Infuriated by the arbitrary detention and secret sentencing, her family refused to pay.
Ms. Zhang, a 71-year-old Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, resident, was arrested at home on May 23, 2023. The police refused to tell the family where she was detained. Due to her family’s poor financial condition, they couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer to seek justice for her.
Ms. Zhang’s family visited her at the Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison on June 3, 2024. It’s not clear when she was transferred there. Because she refused to renounce Falun Gong, the prison authorities only allowed her family to visit her once every three months.
Ms. Ran Guanquan, a 75-year-old Tianjin resident, was sentenced to two and a half years with an 8,000-yuan fine following two court appearances in early 2024.
Ms. Ran 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 hospital. Because she refused to cooperate during the examination, the detention center deputy director slapped her in the face at least four times. He also refused to reveal her examination results. Even though her symptoms persisted, the authorities refused to release her on bail and still sentenced her to 2.5 years after two hearings, on March 26 and April 2, 2024, respectively.
70-Year-Old Ningxia Woman Sentenced to Two Years on Fabricated Evidence
Ms. Xin Linyuan, a 70-year-old resident of Yinchuan City, Ningxia Autonomous Region, was sentenced to two years and fined 10,000 yuan on July 4, 2024.
Ms. Xin, a former accountant, appeared in the Dawukou District Court on June 6, 2024. Her 77-year-old husband, Mr. Chen Jianguo, who served as her non-lawyer defender during her trial, received a copy of her verdict days after her conviction. He noted that the verdict cited three pieces of prosecution evidence as the basis for his wife’s prison sentence.
The first piece of evidence stated that Ms. Xin promoted Falun Gong, but there was no supporting evidence included in the verdict. No law in China criminalizes Falun Gong. Even if Ms. Xin promoted Falun Gong, she would be within her right to do so.
The second piece of evidence included items allegedly confiscated from Ms. Xin’s home, including a printer, flash drives, MP3 players, and paper currency printed with Falun Gong messages. However, the list of confiscated items attached to the verdict failed to give detailed descriptions of each item and identify the source of it as required by law.
The third piece of evidence was a “fact” that Ms. Xin provided Falun Gong informational materials multiple times to another local practitioner, Ms. Li Zhixiang. The police stated themselves in the interrogation record that the two women didn’t know each other, even though they are both Falun Gong practitioners. Despite this, the police still claimed that Ms. Li went to Ms. Xin’s home three times to pick up Falun Gong materials. The “three times” then became “multiple times” in the indictment and the verdict.
The verdict also stated two versions of how Ms. Li took Falun Gong materials from Ms. Xin. One version was an account by officer Liu Pengfei from the Dawukou District Police Department, who said the police followed Ms. Li to Ms. Xin’s home and discovered that the former obtained Falun Gong materials from the latter. Another version stated that surveillance cameras captured Ms. Li showing up at Ms. Xin’s home to pick up Falun Gong materials.
Theoretically speaking, both versions could be true (meaning that the police followed Ms. Li to Ms. Xin’s home and surveillance cameras also recorded the former showing up at the latter’s home). However, the verdict gave the impression that it was an “either...or” situation. Again by law the descriptions of the same event should be consistent and accurate. Of course, this was just about discussing the legal procedure. When it came to the facts, we should not forget that Ms. Li never went to Ms. Xin’s home because they did not know each other.
Besides the above rebuttals that Ms. Xin’s husband made to the allegations in the verdict, he and the defense lawyer also highlighted the following during her trial.
Ms. Xin’s family and friends (except her husband) were blocked from entering the courthouse and her lawyer protested the bailiff’s illegal behavior. The bailiff asked for instructions from their supervisors and eventually eight of Ms. Xin’s family members and friends were allowed to go inside.
Ms. Xin’s lawyer further testified against the police for failing to follow the legal procedures in arresting her. They did not show any search warrant while raiding her home, nor did they let her verify the confiscated items or give her a copy of the list as required by law.
Mr. Chen testified against prosecutor Zhang for having the following factual mistakes in the indictment:
- Ms. Xin’s associate’s degree was misstated as vocational high school diploma.- The police submitted the case to the procuratorate on March 4, 2024, but the date was written as March 8, 2023 in the indictment.- Ms. Xin was arrested on August 12, 2011 for her faith in Falun Gong and soon released unconditionally. Prosecutor Zhang, however, listed the arrest as proof that Ms. Xin was put on administrative detention in 2011, even after he acknowledged there was no official record at all of such “administrative detention.”
Heavy Terms
Tianjin Man Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison
Mr. Qi Zhiyin, a 62-year-old Tianjin resident, was arrested at his daughter’s home in Beijing on February 4, 2024. He was taken back to Tianjin, held at a local detention center, and sentenced to nine years in July 2024.
Mr. Qi’s arrest came five years after he was forced to live away from home to avoid being persecuted. He was previously arrested on December 28, 2017 during a police sweep in Tianjin. He held a hunger strike in the detention center to protest the persecution and was released 40 days later, when he was on the verge of death. The Tianjin Court later issued him a subpoena, ordering him to report to the detention center. To avoid the persecution, he lived away from home, only to be arrested five years later and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Hebei Woman Gets Five Years for Carrying Paper Currency Printed with Information about Falun Gong
Ms. Li Xiaoyan, a 60-year-old Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, resident, took up Falun Gong in 2004. She changed from a competitive and calculating person to someone who is big-hearted and understanding. She regretted that she didn’t learn Falun Gong earlier, or she wouldn’t have divorced her husband.
While going through security checks at the Shijiazhuang Train Station on July 27, 2023, Ms. Li was stopped by the railway police due to her flagged ID. They arrested her upon finding paper currency printed with messages about Falun Gong in her purse. (Due to strict censorship in China, many practitioners use creative ways to raise awareness about the persecution, including printing messages on paper currency.)
The police took Ms. Li back home to raid her place. When she refused to open the door, the police forced Ms. Li’s family, who had been inside, to open the door. Her Falun Gong books and informational materials were confiscated.
The Shijiazhuang Railway Transport Court later sentenced Ms. Li to five years. She appealed with the Beijing Railway Transportation Intermediate Court, which ruled to uphold her original verdict in late May 2024. She was admitted to the Shijiazhuang Women’s Prison shortly after.
Since 2019, the police in Henan Province have been traveling outside the province to arrest law-abiding citizens who posted information on various social media platforms to expose the persecution of Falun Gong. There were at least 22 documented cases, including that of Ms. Wu Jiajian, who was arrested in late 2020 and given six years in or before 2023 (exact date unknown).
Ms. Wu, a 40-year-old resident of Laixi City, Shandong Province, was arrested on November 7, 2020, by both the police in Laixi and Luoyang City, Henan Province. The police did not show any IDs and ordered Ms. Wu to go to the police station to verify her information. She only had her pajamas on and they did not even allow her to put on her socks.
Ms. Wu was taken to Luoyang on the next day, held at the Luoyang City Detention Center, and denied family visits. The Jianxi District Procuratorate in Luoyang indicted her for sharing videos about Falun Gong on WeChat (a social media platform) and forwarded her case to the Jianxi District Court on April 25, 2021. Her family was not given any further updates of her case status until 2023 when they learned that she had been sentenced to six years. They do not know any other details of her trial or sentencing.
Ms. Wu’s arrest dealt a heavy blow to her mother, Ms. Song Jingsu, who suffered declining health and died on February 6, 2022, the sixth day of the Chinese New Year, without seeing her daughter one last time.
Repeated Persecution
Ms. Liu Chunxia, a 56-year-old resident of Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, was seized at work around 5 p.m. on May 6, 2023, thirteen days before the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit was to be held in Xi’an, which 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 local detention center refused to admit Ms. Liu after she was found to have high blood pressure, the police drove her to a psychiatric hospital overseen by the police department. Many practitioners who have no mental health issues are detained here and subjected to involuntary administration of psychiatric drugs.
Ms. Liu was transferred to a local detention center on July 18. She appeared at the Lianhu District Court on December 7, 2023 and April 16, 2024, before being sentenced to 3.5 years with a 10,000-yuan fine 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 she was arrested 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, and she moved in with her son after she was released in March 2021. She landed a job at a property management company and her hard work earned her the respect of her boss and coworkers.
Having Spent 11 Years Behind Bars, Yunnan Woman Gets Another Four Years for Her Faith
Ms. Guo Ling, a 67-year-old woman in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, was stopped by the police as she was walking home at around 9 p.m. on September 24, 2022. Without showing their IDs or a search warrant, they raided her residence and confiscated many personal items.
Ms. Guo was taken to the Haikou Police Station around midnight. She was forced to sit in a chair overnight, while two male officers watcher her. The police interrogated her in the morning and collected her fingerprints and a blood sample that afternoon against her will. Due to injuries to her leg incurred during her previous prison term, the detention center denied her admission and she was released that evening.
The police and residential committee staff members continued to harass Ms. Guo following her release. The police took her to the Xishan District Court at around 8 a.m. on July 16 for a hearing. She refused to be represented by the court-appointed lawyer and acted as her own lawyer. The judge refused to summon witnesses to appear in court to accept cross examination and constantly interrupted Ms. Guo when she was talking.
Ms. Guo was summoned to the police station on July 19, where judge Zhang announced she’d been sentenced to four years. She decided not to appeal.
This is the third time that Ms. Guo, who retired from a food company, has been sentenced for her faith in Falun Gong. She was given seven years in 2003 and sentenced to another four years in 2009.
Inside Yunnan Second Women’s Prison, the guards forced her to sit still 16 hours a day on a tiny stool for two years. The lack of blood circulation caused permanent tissue damage in her hip joints, which resulted in necrosis.
The frequent incarceration in solitary confinement took a toll on her mental health and caused her to suffer from agitated hallucinations. The authorities still refused to release her, until her family filed charges against the prison authorities. By the time she was released on medical parole in November 2011, she had become paralyzed.
Torture reenactment: Sitting still all day on a tiny stool
The police and community officials continued to harass Ms. Guo after she returned home, and forced her to routinely report to the police. Not being able to withstand the mental pressure, her husband filed for divorce. She was forced to move out and rent an apartment, and lived on her meager pension. To further persecute her, the Social Security Bureau suspended her pension, and demanded that she return the pension received while she was in prison.
Download persecution data:
PDF list of practitioners reported sentenced in July and August 2024
Excel list of practitioners reported sentenced in July and August 2024 (with additional details)
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