Four Heilongjiang Residents Imprisoned for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong

(Minghui.org) Four residents of Suifenhe City, Heilongjiang Province were admitted to prison between February and March 2025 to serve wrongful terms for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Zhang Zhong was sentenced to three and a half years. Mr. Li Peng, his wife Ms. Wang Lei, 46, and Mr. Shen Yuguo were each given two years and six months.

The three men were first taken to the training team in Mudanjiang Prison in late February 2025, then transferred to Tailai Prison in early April 2025. Ms. Wang was taken to Heilongjiang Province Women’s Prison in early March 2025.

A fifth practitioner, Mr. Jiang Xuejun, who was sentenced to eight months along with the other four, has been released after finishing serving his term.

Arrest and Sentencing

The five practitioners were arrested on the evening on January 18, 2024, for distributing Falun Gong materials. Mr. Li and Ms. Wang’s home was ransacked, and their computer, printer, cellphone, bank card, IDs, and Falun Gong books were confiscated. Mr. Jiang and Mr. Shen’s homes were raided the next day.

Mr. Li and Mr. Jiang were held in the Suifenhe City Detention Center, Ms. Wang in the Mudanjiang City Detention Center, and Mr. Shen and Mr. Zhang in the Dongning City Detention Center. Both Suifenhe City and Dongning City are under the jurisdiction of Mudanjiang City.

The arrests and detention of Mr. Li and Ms. Wang left their two boys, one in middle school and the other in elementary school, in a dire situation.

At the end of the practitioners’ 37 days of criminal detention, Zhang Xiaowen, the head of the Suifenhe City Domestic Security Division, ordered his subordinates to submit their cases to the Hailin City Procuratorate. Hailin City is also under the jurisdiction of Mudanjiang City.

The prosecutor returned the practitioners’ cases twice to the police in March and on May 23, 2024, for more evidence, before eventually indicting them and transferring their cases to the Hailin City Court.

The four male practitioners were transferred to the Hailin City Detention Center on July 19, 2024. It’s not clear whether Ms. Wang’s detention location was changed.

The five practitioners appeared in the Hailin City Court jointly on October 29. Their lawyers and family defenders entered not guilty pleas for them and argued that no law has criminalized Falun Gong in China. The prosecutor failed to present convincing evidence against the practitioners. Even the judge asked him to stop listing the evidence. Despite the lack of evidence, the judge still sentenced the practitioners to prison.

Related Report:

Suifenhe City, Heilongjiang Province: Five Falun Gong Practitioners Sentenced to Prison