Reported in April 2025: 79 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
(Minghui.org) A total of 79 cases of Falun Gong practitioners sentenced to prison for their faith were confirmed in April 2025.
The newly-confirmed cases included one that took place in 2019, two in 2020, five in 2023, eighteen in 2024, forty-seven in 2025, and six cases with unknown occurrence years. 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 delays in reporting.
The sentenced Falun Gong practitioners are from eighteen provinces or centrally-controlled municipalities. Shandong Province reported the most cases of 18, followed by 10 cases in Jilin, 8 in Hubei and 7 in Hebei. The remaining 14 regions had between 1 and 6 cases each.
The practitioners’ prison terms ranged from four months to eight years, with an average of three years. Thirty-two practitioners were fined between 1,000 and 40,000 yuan for a total of 412,000 yuan, and an average of 12,875 yuan per person.
Among the 55 practitioners with known ages at the time of sentencing, they were between 36 and 86, including 24 in their 60s, 15 in their 70s, and 4 in their 80s.
The following are details of select sentencing cases. The full list of sentenced practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
I. Unjust Sentences
1) Heavy Terms
Tianjin Man Sentenced to 7.5 Years for Talking to People about Persecution of Falun Gong
Mr. Kong Fanwei, a 60-year-old Tianjin resident, was sentenced to 7.5 years on November 8, 2024. He was arrested at a community fair on the early morning of July 3, 2024, for exchanging paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong and talking to people about the persecution. Due to strict information censorship in China, Falun Gong practitioners are using grassroots channels and creative ways, such as printing information on paper currency, to counteract the persecution.
The police broke into Mr. Kong’s home at around 9 a.m. While most of the officers were searching his place, two officers stood outside and forbade Mr. Kong’s family members, who shared the residence with him, from going inside. The police didn’t leave until 3 p.m. Mr. Kong’s computer, printer, and Falun Gong informational materials were confiscated. He was taken to the Yangcun Detention Center in the evening.
The Wuqing District Court held a virtual hearing of Mr. Kong’s case on November 8, 2024, without informing his family, and sentenced him to 7.5 years. He was admitted to Binhai Prison the next day.
60-Year-Old Liaoning Man Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for Practicing Falun Gong
Mr. Qu Pengcheng, a 60-year-old former steel mill worker in Anshan City, Liaoning Province, was arrested at his rental place on May 18, 2024. The police spent hours ransacking his home and confiscated his personal items and some cash. After a brief interrogation at the police department, he was admitted to the Liaoyang City Detention Center.
Prosecutor Wang Zhong of the Dengta City Procuratorate approved Mr. Qu’s arrest on June 20 and indicted him on November 12. Dengta is under the administration of Anshan.
Mr. Qu appeared in the Dengta City Court on the morning of December 3, 2024. His lawyer entered a not guilty plea for him. Mr. Qu refused to answer any questions. The presiding judge, Gao Shangping, informed his lawyer on April 1, 2025, that Mr. Qu had been sentenced to eight years.
2) Arbitrary Arrests and Police Threats
73-Year-Old Retired Teacher Sentenced to 16 Months
Ms. Ma Xiuqin, a 73-year-old retired teacher in Heze City, Shandong Province, was arrested at 7 a.m. on July 11, 2024, during a police sweep of local Falun Gong practitioners. The police interrogated her during the day and then took her to the Heze City Detention Center in the early evening. Although the guards initially refused to admit her due to her high blood pressure, the police forced them to take her, saying, “We have been working so hard since 4 a.m., just to arrest these Falun Gong practitioners.”
Ms. Ma’s blood pressure remained high. She was unable to walk on her own or even sit up after using the toilet. Upon hearing about her situation, her family went to the Beicheng Police Station and asked that she be released on bail, but their request was denied.
In order to sentence Ms. Ma, the police reopened her case from 2020, when she was arrested for giving out a Falun Gong pamphlet. She was detained for a few days back then and released on house arrest. When submitting her latest case to the procuratorate in 2024, the police accused her of “trying to escape” and fabricated witness accounts to frame her.
The Yuncheng County Court held a hearing of Ms. Ma’s case on November 28, 2024. Her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her. He pointed out that no law ever criminalizes Falun Gong in China and that there was no evidence to support the charge of her “undermining law enforcement,” which is the standard pretext used to sentence Falun Gong practitioners. Yet the judge still sentenced Ms. Ma to 16 months in prison on December 5, 2024.
Ms. Ma appealed to the Heze City Intermediate Court, which held a hearing on March 10, 2025. The judge ruled to uphold her original verdict on March 27, 2025, and ordered her to serve time, despite the fact that she was already incapacitated and relied on others for care.
Two Liaoning Residents, 71 and 65, Sentenced to Prison
Two Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, residents were sentenced to prison on March 31, 2025. Mr. Jin Xiaofeng, 65, was sentenced to three years and fined 10,000 yuan. Ms. Zhao Guiping, 71, received five years and a 30,000-yuan fine.
Mr. Jin Xiaofeng
Ms. Zhao Guiping
Mr. Jin and Ms. Zhao were talking outside on July 13, 2024, when five plainclothes officers swarmed the pair and said they had been following Mr. Jin for three months. Without producing any IDs or search warrant, they searched Mr. Jin’s car and confiscated over 500 Falun Gong flyers. The police also raided Mr. Jin’s home later that day and seized a computer and a printer.
On the way to raid Mr. Jin’s home, an officer said to him, “People like you often die in custody, and your children are implicated.”
Mr. Jin was taken to the Quanyuan Police Station, where the police promised to release him in three days if he answered all their questions. He refused to comply and demanded legal representation.
Prosecutor Wang Yu of the Dadong District Procuratorate indicted both practitioners on December 10, 2024. They appeared in the Dadong District Court on February 20, 2025.
Mr. Jin and Ms. Zhao’s respective lawyers and Mr. Jin’s family defender (his daughter, alias Mei) demanded their acquittal during their hearing. The two practitioners also testified in their own defense. Presiding judge Zhang and prosecutor Wang Yu kept interrupting the lawyers and the practitioners during the trial.
Wang accused Mr. Jin and Ms. Zhao of “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used by the communist regime to frame Falun Gong practitioners. The defense pointed out that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it a cult. Mei also presented a joint notice issued by the General Office of the CCP Central Committee, the General Office of the State Council, and the Ministry of Public Security on April 9, 2000, titled, “Notice of the Ministry of Public Security on Certain Issues Concerning the Identification and Suppression of Cult Organizations.” The notice listed 14 cult organizations but Falun Gong was not on it.
Judge Zhang declined to accept the notice as evidence to support the defendants’ innocence and yelled, “How can this be used as evidence?”
Judge Zhang adjourned the hearing after four hours. He sentenced both practitioners on March 31, 2025. Both Mr. Jin and Ms. Zhao are in declining health due to the mental pressure from the persecution.
3) Sentenced on Fabricated Evidence
Hubei Physician Sentenced to Three Years and Four Months Over Materials She Did Not Distribute
Ms. Xi Guoxiu, a 61-year-old retired physician in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, was admitted to the Hubei Province Women’s Prison on February 26, 2025 to serve a prison term of three years and four months for practicing Falun Gong.
Ms. Xi was arrested around 11 p.m. on October 24, 2023. More than ten plainclothes and uniformed officers broke into her home that night and confiscated her computer, cell phone, and other valuables. While interrogating her, the police said someone found some Falun Gong brochures in a residential area and suspected she distributed them. While it’s not illegal to spread information about Falun Gong, Ms. Xi did not pass out the materials at the said location. On the interrogation record she wrote, “The allegations that I distributed the materials are fabricated.”
Ms. Xi was taken to the Wuhan City First Detention Center the next day and issued a formal arrest warrant on November 9, 2023. The Hanyang District Procuratorate received her case in mid-January 2024 and forwarded it to the Hanyang District Court on April 11.
Ms. Xi stood trial on November 19, 2024 and was convicted on December 31, 2024. She appealed to the Wuhan City Intermediate Court in January 2025 and was issued an unfavorable ruling on February 28, 2025.
After she lost her appeal, Ms. Xi’s family asked the police, the trial court, and the intermediate court when she would be transferred to prison. They were either given the runaround or their phone calls were ignored. Not until March 10, 2025 did they receive a letter from the Hubei Province Women’s Prison saying that Ms. Xi was admitted to the prison on February 26 (two days before her appeal was rejected). Her family went to the prison to visit her, but the guards denied their request, saying that she was still in the three-month strict management period.
Prior to her latest prison sentence, Ms. Xi was held at brainwashing center at least five times and was sentenced to two years in 2016.
Police Plant "Evidence" to Frame Hebei Woman
Ms. Li Guoying from Zhengding County, Hebei Province, was sentenced to five and a half years and fined 30,000 yuan on March 31, 2025. She is now appealing the verdict.
Ms. Li’s sentence stemmed from her arrest on July 18, 2023, while she was on her way home from work. The police targeted her after a man reported her for distributing Falun Gong informational materials. The police raided her home that night. No one was there, so they ordered the property management to open the door.
The police later took Ms. Li back to her home. She noticed items that did not belong to her. Apparently the police planted “evidence” to frame her. When she tried to reason with them, they shoved her against the furniture, and she passed out.
When Ms. Li finally came to, she found herself in the Zhengding County Domestic Security Division. The police ordered her to sign the list of confiscated items. She refused to comply because they didn’t let her verify the items. They pried open her fist and forced her to fingerprint the document. She was extremely weak and did not have the strength to resist. The “fingerprinted” list of confiscated items later became evidence against her.
Ms. Li was tried by the Zhengding County Court on March 6, 2024, and sentenced on March 31, 2025.
According to insiders, Ms. Li’s case was submitted to the Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court for review before the verdict was issued. By law, the trial court is given full authority to decide the case without having to consult the higher court.
Once Jailed for a Decade, 62-Year-Old Sichuan Man Secretly Sentenced to Another 5 Years
Mr. Xu Weidong’s family learned on April 21, 2025 that he had been sentenced to five years for practicing Falun Gong. They called the trial court handling the case and were told that the ruling was issued weeks earlier, on March 25. The court refused to give the family the copy of the verdict.
Mr. Xu, a 62-year-old resident of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province and a former metallurgical engineer, was admitted to prison in the last week of April 2025.
Mr. Xu was arrested at home together with his wife, Ms. Sun Fenghua, on November 26, 2023. The police targeted the couple because they talked to people about Falun Gong. Ms. Sun was released on December 7, 2023 but Mr. Xu was put on administration detention. Hours later, the police escalated his detention to criminal detention on the grounds that he was a “repeat offender.” Mr. Xu previously served a ten-year prison term (May 2002 – May 2012) for intercepting TV signals to broadcast programs debunking the hate propaganda against Falun Gong.
The police submitted the case to the Wenjiang District Procuratorate on December 14, 2023. One week later, prosecutor Liu Xu issued a formal arrest warrant for Mr. Xu. Officer Huang Kai notified Ms. Sun on the phone to report to the police station to sign the warrant. Ms. Sun went but was forced to change the warrant date from December 21 to November 26, 2023 (the day of the arrest).
An officer came to the couple’s home on the night of December 23, 2023 and drove away Mr. Xu’s electric four-wheeler. The officer claimed that the four-wheeler was “evidence” and must be confiscated.
Several officers took Mr. Xu out of the Yongsheng Detention Center back to the police station on December 25, 2023. They forced him to stand by his four-wheeler and have his pictures taken. They then submitted the “new evidence” to the procuratorate on February 21, 2024.
Prosecutor Liu indicted Mr. Xu in November 2024 and threatened to give him a heavy sentence if he refused to admit his “guilt.” Mr. Xu reiterated his innocence and refused to sign the indictment.
Ms. Sun submitted requests to the Wenjiang District Court, asking to know the legal basis for his indictment and a reevaluation of the police-supplied evidence against him. Instead of receiving a reply from the court, she found out about Mr. Xu’s secret prison sentence from an insider on April 21, 2025. She called the court to inquire about the details. The court only confirmed the conviction date of March 25 but refused to give her a copy of the verdict. They claimed that only the defendant was entitled to receiving a copy of the verdict.
Ms. Sun went to the Chengdu City Detention Center on April 23, 2025 but was denied visits with her husband on the grounds that his case was a “classified” case. The guards told her that Mr. Xu was set to be transferred to the Wumaping Prison in Leshan City, Sichuan Province in one week and that she had to wait three months before being allowed to visit him in prison.
II. The Victims
1) Young and Old Sentenced
Ms. Sun Shuang, a 36-year-old resident of Fangshan District in Beijing, was sentenced to five years and fined 5,000-yuan on March 20, 2025. She was arrested at her home on November 22, 2023, after she was reported for distributing calendars earlier that day.
The police promised to release Ms. Sun if she agreed to sign the detention notice and the interrogation records. She believed them and signed the documents, only to be given criminal detention and taken to the Fangshan District Detention Center.
Ms. Sun’s case was submitted to the Fangshan District Procuratorate in late December 2023. Prosecutor Wang Jun indicted her in April 2024. The Fangshan District Court tried her on June 17, 2024, and convicted her on March 20, 2025.
Ms. Sun filed an appeal. Her mother, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was forced to go into hiding either in late 2023 or early 2024 after the police threatened to arrest her when she sought her daughter’s release.
47-Year-Old Chongqing Man Sentenced to 2.5 Years in Prison
Mr. Zou Bin, a 47-year-old Chongqing resident, was arrested on May 22, 2024 and held at the Nan’an District Detention Center. He was tried by the Jiulongpo District Court on December 19 and sentenced to 2.5 years in February 2025.
Mr. Zou’s parents have both passed away. His older brother’s legs are disabled, and he is unable to care for himself. Mr. Zou wrote to the police several times, demanding to be released to take care of his brother, but to no avail.
Mr. Zou graduated from Chongqing Jiaotong University. He had a decent job but was fired for upholding his faith after the persecution started. He was also given an unknown term of forced labor in May 2001. In the forced labor camp, he was beaten and stomped on and left exposed so bugs could bite him. He was released on medical parole in May 2002.
Mr. Zou was arrested again in late March 2011 and later sentenced to three years with four years probation by the Qingchuan County Court in Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province.
Two Sichuan Women, 86 and 80, Convicted for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong
Two residents of Suining City, Sichuan Province, were recently notified that they were each sentenced to six months for practicing Falun Gong. They were allowed to serve time outside of prison but were ordered to report to their local police station once a month.
Ms. Pu Zexiu, an 86-year-old retired teacher, and Ms. Chen Weixin, 80, were arrested on the morning of April 1, 2024, after a plainclothes officer spotted them talking to people about Falun Gong. They were taken to the Kaixuan Road Police Station to be searched and interrogated before being released on bail at noon.
The police called both women’s sons on June 5, 2024, ordering them to bring their mothers to the police station. Ms. Pu and Ms. Chen both complied and reported to the police the next day in the company of their sons. However, instead of talking to them, the police had their sons sign all the paperwork. After that, all four were taken to the Chuanshan District Procuratorate, where the staffers also just talked to the sons and had them sign all the paperwork. Both women later learned from their sons that they had been put on bail and were awaiting indictment.
Ms. Pu and Ms. Chen were notified by the Chengnan Police Station in late February 2025 to report to the Chuanshan District Court to have their cases resolved. They went and were ordered to pay 2,000 yuan each to close their cases. They did so, only to receive another call from the court in mid-March to appear before them again. They went as instructed and were told that they were each sentenced to six months.
84-Year-Old Shandong Man Sentenced to 4 Years
Mr. Yang Yudong, an 84-year-old resident in Mengyin County, Shandong Province, was admitted to the Shandong Province Prison on March 26, 2025, to serve a four-year term for practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Yang’s conviction stemmed from his initial arrest around late January 2025, when he distributed Falun Gong informational materials. While the police released him on bail that afternoon, they broke into his home the next day to ask where he was. His wife said he had gone to a local fair. The police went to the fair and arrested him again. After he was released on bail a few days later, he went into hiding to avoid further persecution.
Mr. Yang returned home around March 13, 2025, only to be arrested by plainclothes officers who were monitoring his home. In less than two weeks, he was sentenced to four years and admitted to the Shandong Province Prison on March 26.
2) Family Targeted Together
Hebei Woman, Her Daughter and Son-in-law Sentenced to Prison
The Mentougou District Court in Beijing sentenced three members of a family for their shared faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Yu Shikun, 62, and her daughter, Ms. Liu Meili, both live in Wangdu County, Hebei Province. Ms. Liu’s husband, Mr. An Chaoxu, also from Hebei, works in Beijing, about 130 miles away. He and his wife were arrested in Beijing on April 25, 2024, while she was visiting him. His mother-in-law was arrested in Hebei on June 12, 2024 and taken to Beijing hours later.
The Mentougou District Procuratorate returned the joint case of the three family members to the police in September 2024, citing insufficient evidence. The Beijing police traveled to Wangdu County, Hebei Province, in at least three cruisers on October 7, 2024, and asked the residents if they knew anyone who practiced Falun Gong or distributed Falun Gong materials. They stayed there for about five nights before returning to Beijing. With the newly gathered “evidence” against the three family members, the police resubmitted the case on October 12, 2024. This time the procuratorate accepted the case.
The three family members were indicted on November 22, 2024. They stood trial at the Mentougou District Court on January 24, 2025. Their family learned of their prison sentences in April 2025: Ms. Yu was sentenced to one and a half years and her daughter two years. Both were also fined 2,000 yuan. Mr. An was given two years with three years probation.
3) Repeatedly Persecuted
Mr. Xia Hongmin, 70, from Laishui County, Hebei Province, was admitted to the Jidong No. 4 Prison on April 2, 2025, to serve a three-year-three-month term for practicing Falun Gong.
Mr. Xia’s family was recently notified. The official notice they received only indicated that their loved one was convicted by the Zhuozhou City Court. There was no information on when he was indicted, tried, or sentenced.
Mr. Xia’s latest prison sentence came on the heels of a prior 18-month term that he completed on January 17, 2024, also for practicing Falun Gong. Three months later he was arrested again, on April 30, 2024. Around 7:30 a.m. that day, a police van stopped outside of Mr. Xia’s apartment building. Five officers, with some in plainclothes, knocked on his door. After he opened it, the police barged in and flashed a piece of paper in front of him, but didn't let him or his family read what was written on it. One officer held a camera to videotape Mr. Xia. They said that someone mailed a letter to the police and they suspected it was him, after they checked the surveillance videos.
Mr. Xia was held at the police station overnight. His family was notified the next day that he was put on administrative detention at the Laishui County Lockup. After his latest prison sentence of three years and three months, he was sent to prison on April 2, 2025.
Chongqing Woman Given Third Prison Sentence for Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Yu Shuhui from Chongqing was sentenced to three and a half years on December 27, 2024 for practicing Falun Gong. This is the third time that she has been sentenced for her faith. She was previously sentenced to three years in prison following an arrest in 2000 and given another 3.5 years after an arrest on May 13, 2012. She was brutally tortured during her two prior prison terms.
Ms. Yu’s latest arrest took place around 8 p.m. on January 23, 2024, by three men and one woman. None of the plainclothes agents revealed their identities or produced a search warrant. Later that day they raided her home and seized one piece of clothing and a pair of shoes.
Prosecutor Zhang Lin from the Jiulongpo District Procuratorate indicted Ms. Yu on May 13, 2024, but didn’t notify her of the indictment until July 24. Her family filed a complaint against Zhang and requested that she be recused from Ms. Yu’s prosecution.
Zhang revised the indictment in retaliation. The earlier version stated that Ms. Yu committed a “minor crime” but this wording was removed from the revised version.
The Jiulongpo District Court sentenced Ms. Yu to three and a half years on December 27, 2024. She was admitted to the Chongqing Women’s Prison around early April 2025.
Related Reports:
Reported in March 2025: 61 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in February 2025: 68 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith
Reported in January 2025: 97 Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced for Their Faith