Four Sichuan Residents Sentenced for Practicing Falun Gong, Three of Them Repeatedly Targeted in the Past

(Minghui.org) Four residents of Suining City, Sichuan Province, were sentenced to prison for their practicing Falun Gong, Minghui.org learned in late April 2025.

Mr. Xiao Wenxue and his wife, Ms. Yang Sizhen, both 70, as well as Ms. Guo Chunfang, 56, were seized from their share rental place on October 14, 2024. All three had been forced to live away from their homes to avoid being persecuted for their faith. Mr. Yang Minghua (also known as Yang Yihua), in his 60s, was seized not long afterwards, when he went to visit the other three practitioners.

It is unclear when the four practitioners were indicted, tried, or sentenced. Minghui.org recently learned of their prison sentences. Ms. Guo was given four years; Ms. Yang Sizhen and Mr. Yang Minghua each received one year and ten months. Mr. Xiao was sentenced to one year with two years probation. Their current detention locations remain to be investigated.

Past Persecution of Mr. Xiao and His Wife

Mr. Xiao and Ms. Yang were vegetables vendors. After Ms. Yang took up Falun Gong in February 1998, her many ailments, including a heart condition, all disappeared. Witnessing her improvement, Mr. Xiao also began to practice Falun Gong in March 1999 and also regained his health.

After the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution in July 1999, Ms. Yang was arrested eight times and held in brainwashing centers four times. She also served a labor camp term and was tortured.

Due to frequent police harassment, the couple lived away from home beginning in July 6, 2008, after they escaped an arrest.

Past Persecution of Ms. Guo

Ms. Guo, an award-winning school teacher, was also repeatedly arrested and harassed since the onset of the persecution. She served a one-year forced labor term from November 11, 2001 to October 1, 2002 (including four months in total at two different detention centers and six months at the Nanmusi Women’s Labor Camp). The labor camp guards put her in solitary confinement the day she was admitted and tortured her for three straight days. She was also forced to stand in military poses for long periods of time and was often deprived of sleep for days on end. They beat her as soon as she dozed off. They did not allow her to shower or wash her clothes or rice bowls. Sometimes they even barred her from having bowel movements.

Ms. Guo was arrested again on February 20, 2006. While she was held at the local detention center, she was restrained in a metal chair for three straight days, and was not allowed to use the restroom. By the time she was removed from the chair, her feet were swollen and she could not stand or walk steadily. Despite her condition the guards forced her to do hard labor and recite the detention center rules. She was sentenced to five years in September 2006. She was tortured and forced to do hard labor at the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison.

While she was serving time, Ms. Guo’s employer, Huima Town Second Elementary School, fired her, her husband divorced her in March 2007, and her mother, who was living on her own, died in July 2007.

When Ms. Guo was released on February 19, 2011, her hair had turned gray, her reactions were slow, her hearing and memory declined significantly, and she was pale and very weak.

On March 8, 2011, only 19 days after Ms. Guo’s prison release, the police harassed her again. They attempted to take her to a brainwashing center, promising to provide her with low-income subsidy or help her find a job. She refused. She managed to escape being arrested and lived away from home before her latest arrest on October 14, 2024.

Related Reports:

Suining City, Sichuan Province: Four Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day

Award Winning Teacher from Suining City Imprisoned for Five Years, Now Homeless to Avoid Further Persecution