(Minghui.org) Ms. Li Yufang, 70, from Longkou City, Yantai City, Shandong Province, has been detained since she was arrested on July 17, 2025 because she practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Her family has worked tirelessly to get her released.
Ms. Li was arrested on the morning of July 17, 2025 while she distributed information about Falun Gong at a farmers’ market. Officer Xing Changheng from the Xinjia Police Station informed her family that afternoon that she would be taken to the Yantai City Detention Center for “undermining law enforcement,” the standard pretext used to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners in China. Xing ordered the family to sign her detention notice. They refused to comply.
The family called the police hotline—12389—on July 18, 2025 to report on Ms. Li’s arbitrary arrest, but the line was busy each time they called.
On July 22, Ms. Li’s lawyer visited her. She told him that during her arrest around 8 a.m. on July 17, several officers from the Longkou City Domestic Security Office shoved her to the ground. None of them wore police uniforms or produced their IDs. They handcuffed her, pushed her into their cruiser and raided her home. Her Falun Gong books and informational materials were confiscated. The home was left in a mess. As no one was present during the raid so it’s not clear what else were confiscated.
Ms. Li’s family filed a complaint to the police on July 23. They prepared two copies, one for the police chief Jiang Dongyu and another for officer Xing.
For the next three weeks, they also filed more complaints with the Supreme People’s Procuratorate; the Ministry of Public Security; the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection; the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commissions of Shandong Province, Yantai City, and Longkou City; the Yantai City Procuratorate and the Longkou City Procuratorate; and the Longkou City Domestic Security Office.
The police approved Ms. Li’s arrest on August 8, and her family vowed to keep seeking justice for her.
Below are the specific actions the family has taken:
On July 23, the family called the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s hotline, 12309, and filed a complaint online, to report the Xinjia Police Station for illegally detaining an innocent citizen. They also called the police’s hotline, 12389, again, left a voice message and filed a complaint on the police website. They submitted complaints on the websites of the Longkou Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Shandong Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
On July 24, the family mailed a complaint to Yantai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision and the letter was delivered the next day.
Also on July 24, the family wrote to the Yantai City Procuratorate, demanding it not approve Ms. Li’s arrest and requesting the return of the confiscated items. Their request was delivered on July 29.
On July 25, the family submitted letters to the Longkou City Domestic Security Office, also demanding the police not approve Ms. Li’s arrest and release her. When they made the follow-up call on August 1, the receptionist confirmed that they received their letters, but they refused to provide the contact information of the officer who was working on Ms. Li’s case.
Suspecting that the police might submit Ms. Li’s case to the Longkou City Procuratorate, instead of the Yantai City Procuratorate, the family mailed letters to the former on August 1, demanding it not approve Ms. Li’s arrest and seeking her release and that the confiscated items be returned. The procuratorate called days later and said they received the letters from the family, but the police hadn’t submitted Ms. Li’s case yet.
On August 1 and 4, the family called 12337, another hotline platform for reporting judiciary and police misconduct, and submitted the complaint against the police twice.
The family mailed more letters to the Longkou City Procuratorate and the Longkou City Domestic Security Office on August 4, again demanding they dismiss Ms. Li’s case and not approve her arrest.
As the family was unable to get updates to Ms. Li’s case, they called the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s hotline, 12309, on August 6, accusing the police of concealing case information.
The family called the Longkou City Domestic Security Office again on August 7 but still couldn’t get more information.
Officer Xing of the Xinjia Police Station called the family on August 8 and told them that Ms. Li was issued a formal arrest warrant. Xing ordered the family to go to the police station to sign the notice but they refused.
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