(Minghui.org) A 69-year-old woman in Shanghai was sentenced to two years with a 15,000-yuan fine on October 9, 2026, for her faith in Falun Gong. She is now appealing the wrongful conviction.
Ms. Xu Nixia, born in April 1957, was arrested at home on May 13, 2025, by officers from the Baoshan District Domestic Security Office. They put her in the Baoshan District Detention Center.
Ms. Xu’s family learned in January 2026 that the Baoshan District Procuratorate had submitted her case to the Jing’an District Court, which has been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the districts under the jurisdiction of the Shanghai Second Intermediate Court.
When Ms. Xu’s lawyer went to the court to review the case documents, he requested the audio and video recordings from the interrogation after her arrest. He was told that the recorder was “broken” during the interrogation. He pointed out that the grounds upon which the police established a case against his client bore no relation whatsoever to the so-called “evidence” or witness testimonies they later fabricated.
The lawyer filed a formal request with the court to have the witness appear during the trial to accept cross examination. He received no response.
Ms. Xu was tried on October 9, 2026. The Baoshan District Political and Legal Affairs Committee dispatched a person to attend the hearing.
The lawyer again highlighted the lack of legal basis for the police initiating the case and the procuratorate indicting his client. Instead of justifying those decisions based on legal principles and statutory provisions, prosecutor Zhao Jian said the lawyer, “as a legal professional, should have known why the procuratorate issued the indictment.”
Ms. Xu, who appeared to have aged significantly since her arrest and moved sluggishly, managed to testify in her own defense. She emphasized that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and demanded an acquittal.
Judge Yang Liu convicted Ms. Xu at the end of the hearing. Assistant judges Chen Qian and Gong Xulong, clerk Zheng Lin, and prosecutor Zhao all signed the verdict.
Ms. Xu started to practice Falun Gong in 1997. After the Chinese Communist Party launched the persecutionbin 1999, she was repeatedly arrested for refusing to give up her faith. She was previously twice jailed for a total of seven years. After she was released, she was subjected to long term surveillance and financial persecution. See the related reports for details of her past persecution and latest arrest.
Related Reports:
Shanghai Woman Detained for Over 14 Months for Her Faith, Police Refuse to Provide Notice of Arrest
Having Been Repeatedly Targeted for Her Faith, Destitute Shanghai Woman Arrested Again
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