(Minghui.org) Ms. Wang Xiaoqun, a retired employee of the Changde City Bureau of Commerce in Hunan Province, was sentenced to 5 years on November 12, 2025, along with nine other locals. Prior to her latest sentencing, she has already spent 19 years behind bars, serving two labor camp terms totaling 4 years, a 7.5-year term given on May 18, 2006, a 4-year term given on July 21, 2016, and a 3.5-years handed down on July 28, 2020.

More than ten people from the local police station, procuratorate, and court descended on Ms. Zhou Fenglan’s home in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, on November 25, 2025, and held a trial of the 77-year-old woman who’d recently become bedridden after suffering a stroke. After sentencing her to three years with a 20,000-yuan fine, the judge threatened to take her for a physical exam in preparation for her prison admission.

Ms. Huo Guilan, a 75-year-old retired worker from a plastics machinery factory in Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, was arrested on the night of April 11, 2024. The four arresting officers did not allow her to change her clothes or shoes before dragging her downstairs to their cruiser. She suffered severe injuries to her ankle and was unable to walk. She also felt dizzy, had vaginal bleeding, experienced pain in her chest and back, and had breathing difficulty. Her hearing and vision declined as well. Her family requested that she be released on bail but their request was turned down. She was sentenced to nine years and fined 36,000 yuan on December 18, 2025.

The above are just three examples of the 751 sentencing cases of Falun Gong practitioners that were newly reported in 2025. Twenty-six years after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered the eradication of Falun Gong, the persecution remains unabated. Some practitioners spent decades behind bars prior to their latest arrests and sentencing. The CCP also showed no leniency in sentencing elderly practitioners, with practitioners in their 70s, like Ms. Huo, receiving lengthy terms of up to nine years.

Among the 751 newly reported sentencing cases, 514 took place in 2025 and 237 practitioners were sentenced in earlier years. The delay in reporting was caused by the CCP’s strict information censorship, which aims to conceal the persecution of Falun Gong to avoid international scrutiny.

I. Overview of Newly Reported Sentencing Cases

a. Major Persecution Tactic to Target the Practitioners

After the forced labor camp system was abolished in 2013, prison sentencing became one of the major persecution tactics used on Falun Gong practitioners, in addition to harassment, brainwashing sessions, and psychiatric hospital detention.

To expedite the sentencing process, some regions designated specific procuratorates and courts to handle Falun Gong cases. The practitioners can be convicted days or weeks after their arrests.

On January 9, 2025, Ms. Zhang Shuqin, a 65-year-old resident of Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, was admitted to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison to serve a two-year term. She was the 24th Falun Gong practitioner sentenced in 2024, by the Linghai City Court, which is under the administration of Jinzhou and has been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the greater Jinzhou area. At least 48 other practitioners in Jinzhou and its subordinate cities/counties were sentenced by the Linghai City Court between 2022 and 2023.

In Jilin Province, four residents of Yushu City were sentenced on August 18, 2025, by the Dehui City Court, which is assigned to be in charge of Falun Gong cases in Dehui and nearby regions, including Yushu. The practitioners were arrested in December 2024, for helping people install satellite dishes to receive uncensored overseas news that exposed the persecution of Falun Gong.

b. Sentencing Cases All Across China

China has 22 provinces, 4 centrally controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and 5 autonomous regions (Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Xinjiang, and Ningxia). Except for Shanghai, Tibet, Guangxi, Qinghai, and Hainan, all other 26 jurisdictions reported sentencing cases in 2025. Liaoning, Jilin, and Shandong had 98, 96, and 95 cases, respectively. Sixteen other jurisdictions also reported double-digit cases between 11 and 65, and the remaining seven regions had single-digit cases of 1 to 9.

The Qingyang District Court in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, convicted five locals on September 19, 2025. The longest term was three years and eight months with a 30,000-yuan fine, and the shortest term was twenty months with a 10,000-yuan fine. The police revealed that they had monitored one practitioner for months before the arrest. They even installed surveillance devices at her mother’s residence and took photos of her when she went out. After her arrest, they continued to shadow her sister for a period of time.

Five Suiling County, Heilongjiang Province, residents were sentenced to up to 5 years in prison on October 16, 2025. The practitioners were arrested on May 10, 2025, per an order from the Heilongjiang Province Public Security Bureau. The practitioners were targeted after plainclothes officers spotted them distributing Falun Gong informational materials. They were video-recorded and photographed. The materials they distributed were also used as evidence against them.

Some practitioners were sentenced by out-of-town courts.

Ms. Han Jinhua, 67, of Huai’an County, Hebei Province, was sentenced to three years and four months by a court in Shaanxi Province. While visiting her son in Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, Ms. Han hung Falun Gong information on doorknobs in a residential area. A resident saw her from his doorbell camera and reported her to the police.

Officers from Xi’an City traveled over 600 miles to Huai’an County, Hebei Province, on August 30, 2024, to arrest Ms. Han and take her back to Xi’an. She was tried on January 22, 2025. Her lawyer received a notice in mid-July 2025 that she had been sentenced to three years and four months.

c. Heavy Terms Up to Ten Years

The Chinese Supreme People’s Procuratorate announced in February 2024 that in recent years, 85% of convicted criminals received three years or less, compared to 55% in 1999. Yet for the 751 sentencing cases of Falun Gong practitioners reported in 2025, 418 of them (55.7%) were sentenced to three to ten years, signifying a more severe sentencing of Falun Gong practitioners, when they violated no laws in exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief in the first place.

In addition, a total of 266 practitioners were fined a total of 3,269,400 yuan, averaging 12,291 yuan per person. Ms. Fu Guiqin, of Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province, and Ms. Liu Yingjun, of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, were each fined 100,000 yuan and given prison sentences of two years and ten months, and seven years, respectively.

A married couple in Luohe City, Henan Province, Mr. Yang Juncheng and Ms. Ding Xiangqin, in their 60s, both received a ten-year term at an unknown time, following their arrests in September 2023. The police confiscated 300,000 yuan in cash and other personal belongings while raiding their home. Mr. Yang’s father, who is in his 90s and relied on him for care, was left in a dire situation.

Ms. Meng Qingjie, a 72-year-old retired elementary school teacher in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on July 12, 2024, and sentenced to eight years with a 50,000-yuan fine on March 26, 2025. Prior to her latest sentencing, she has been incarcerated for a total of nine years for her faith, and her pension has been suspended since 2018.

Mr. Jiang Dexin, a 56-year-old resident of Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was arrested at home on October 26, 2024, by officers from Chengde City, Hebei Province, about 400 miles away. He stood trial at the Shuangqiao District Court in Chengde on July 4, 2025. The presiding judge accused him of “inciting, assembling, and organizing activities to undermine law enforcement.” The judge didn’t allow his lawyer to present the defense’s evidence or have their witness appear in court to accept cross examination. He sentenced Mr. Jiang to nine years with a 20,000-yuan fine, days after the hearing. After the persecution began in July 1999, Mr. Jiang has already been sentenced twice, for a total of 14 years.

d. Decades of Persecution

Like above-mentioned Mr. Jiang Dexin, some practitioners have already suffered decades-long persecution before being sentenced again. Ms. Wang Jinxian, 69 and of Yiliang County, Yunnan Province, was given her fifth prison term, 4.5 years, following her latest arrest in June 2024. She also previously spent 14 years behind bars, and her third term came only 44 days after she finished the second term.

Ms. Zuo Xiuyun, 64, from Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, was also given the fifth prison term of three years and five months, in early 2025. Her previous four terms totaled 17.5 years. Her husband divorced her while she was serving her first prison sentence.

Mr. Yang Jiangwei, 55, a former employee of Liangjin Dayang Electric Power Installation Company in Suizhong County, Liaoning Province, was arrested on April 19, 2024, for putting up a self-adhesive sticker reading “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” on a utility pole. He was sentenced to a 14-month term in February 2025. Since the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Mr. Yang has served three forced labor terms and a 10-year prison term, totaling 17.5 years. He was only able to spend a bit over seven years with his family during the past 26 years.

Mr. Jiang Yuntian, 58, from Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, was arrested on July 12, 2024, after he posted information about Falun Gong on Kuaishou (a TikTok-type social media platform). He was later sentenced to 4 years, and his appeal was also rejected. Prior to his latest term, he served a 3-year forced labor term and a 10-year prison term. While held at the labor camp, he was stripped naked and shocked with four electric batons simultaneously for more than one hour. He passed out and the guards poured cold water on him. After he came to, they continued the electric shock torture. A guard shocked him on his private parts and laughed at his suffering. He still has scars on his body to this day.

II. Profile of the Victims

Among 498 out of the 751 practitioners whose ages at the time of their sentencing were known, 1 was in her 20s, 5 in their 30s, 17 in their 40s, 105 in their 50s, 180 in their 60s, 156 in their 70s, 33 in their 80s, and 1 in her 90s.

The practitioners came from all walks of life, including government officials, college teachers, doctors, artists, businessman, nurses, engineers, farmers, and factory workers.

a. Younger Practitioners Sentenced

Ms. Li Lixia, a 31-year-old physician in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, was arrested on March 25, 2024. She was sentenced to one and a half years after three hearings on November 20, 2024, April 1, 2025, and April 24, 2025.

Ms. Sun Shuang, 36, was arrested at her home in Beijing on November 22, 2023, after she was reported for distributing calendars earlier that day. The police promised to release her if she agreed to sign the detention notice and the interrogation records. She believed them and signed the documents, only to be taken to the detention center and subjected to prosecution. She was sentenced to five years with a 5,000-yuan fine on March 20, 2025. Her mother, Ms. Wang Shuhui, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was arrested in mid-May 2025 for trying to seek justice for her.

Mr. Tong Mingyu, 43, from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, started a hunger strike at the Shuangcheng District Detention Center the day of his arrest on November 20, 2024. The guards force-fed him every day. He was tried on February 13, 2025, and sentenced to five years and three months on February 27.

b. Middle-Aged Practitioners Also Targeted

Mr. Zou Bin, a 47-year-old Chongqing resident, was arrested on May 22, 2024, and sentenced to two and a half years in February 2025. His 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.

Ms. Wang Ping, a 54-year-old resident in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, stood trial on July 25, 2025. Several of her family members attended the trial. The bailiffs took photos of their IDs and didn’t allow them to bring their cell phones into the courtroom. The three judges all wore masks during the trial. Her son represented her as a non-lawyer defender and entered a not guilty plea for her. The judges sentenced her at the end of the hearing to 2.5 years with a 10,000-yuan fine.

Ms. Yuan Yiqun, 55 and of Kunming City, Yunnan Province, was arrested on August 8, 2024, as soon as she opened the door for her 80-year-old mother, who just returned home from grocery shopping. More than ten plainclothes officers seized her. Her mother was so terrified that she had a relapse of her heart condition and was rushed to the hospital. Ms. Yuan stood trial on January 20, 2025, and was later sentenced to 3.5 years.

On October 6, 2025, the Mid-Autumn Festival (a holiday for family reunions), 56-year-old Mr. Zhang Zhirong’s family was notified that he had been sentenced to four years. Mr. Zhang, a farmer in Laixi City, Shandong Province, was arrested on September 26, 2024. He became emaciated as a result of abuse in custody. His arrest and sentencing were hard on his parents, who are in their 80s. His mother fell ill last year. With no retirement income, his father makes a living picking up and selling recyclable waste. Mr. Zhang’s wife is doing odd jobs to pay for their child’s college education.

Ms. Tong Jing, 59, from Fushun City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on August 9, 2023, when she went to the police department to submit her passport application to attend her son’s graduation ceremony in another country. She was released on bail on August 23, 2023, and taken back into custody on March 7, 2025. As she refused to attend the hearing on June 24, 2025, the bailiffs restrained her in a wheelchair and took her to a makeshift courtroom in the detention center. She remained silent in protest throughout the entire session. The judge later sentenced her to 3.5 years.

c. Elderly Practitioners Not Spared

1) Court Orders Allowing Elderly Practitioners to Serve Time at Home Reversed

In a new disturbing development, many elderly practitioners, mostly in their 80s, were taken back into custody to serve prison terms that they weren’t required to serve previously. Most of them were denied admission to detention centers or prisons due to various ailments. The new order to enforce their prison terms, or even re-serve the prison terms that had already expired, despite their physical conditions, poses tremendous risks to their health and lives.

Mr. Wei Jiuxiang, 82, and his wife Ms. Zhang Yanmiao, 85, of Mengyin County, Shandong Province, were both sentenced to four years in 2024. They were not immediately ordered to serve time, but the police seized them in May 2025 and took them to prisons, even though Mr. Wei is blind and incapacitated.

Ms. Zhao Guilian, 82, from Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, was sentenced to three years probation at an unknown time in 2023. Court workers suddenly showed up at her door in early 2025 and ordered her to sign a statement renouncing Falun Gong. She refused. The police seized her at home in May 2025 and took her straight to the Inner Mongolia Women’s Prison.

More than ten officers in four police cruisers descended on Ms. Liu Chunping’s home in Jinan City, Shandong Province on July 21, 2025, and seized the 85-year-old woman. She was put in the Shandong Province Women’s Prison the next day, and has been denied family visits. Ms. Liu was sentenced to one year on September 9, 2022, and she was denied admission to the local detention center after she failed the required physical exam. After releasing her, the police frequently harassed her and urged her to have more physical exams to see if she was fit enough to report to prison. They eventually jailed her in July 2025.

Mr. Zhao Yungu, an 87-year-old retired small tractor factory worker in Bin County, Heilongjiang Province, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on August 16, 2024. He remained free before and after his trial until July 11, 2025, when the police carried him to an ambulance and drove him to the hospital for a physical exam, as per a court order. He was admitted to a prison in Harbin on August 8.

Ms. Yu Fangzhuang, a 92-year-old resident of Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, and Ms. Ma Junting, 86 and of Tai’an City, Shandong Province, both passed away after they were ordered to re-serve their expired terms.

2) More Cases of Elderly Practitioners Being Sentenced

Ms. Li Shulian, 67, of Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province, was yanked from her bed by several police officers on January 3, 2024. The incapacitated woman’s family was kept in the dark about her situation until mid-August 2025, when they received a notice saying that she had been admitted to prison on July 21, 2025, to serve a six-year term. It’s not clear whether her family had been allowed to visit her.

Mr. Yang Zonglin, 68, of Pingliang City, Gansu Province, was arrested on March 21, 2025, after a teacher accused him of talking to her students about Falun Gong. He stood trial at the Kongtong District Court on July 21 and was sentenced to a one-year term. He developed severe medical conditions due to torture while in custody, including heart disease and stomach pain. He is weak and emaciated with a hunchback.

Mr. Wang Junheng, a 76-year-old resident in Yantai City, Shandong Province, was sentenced to 1.5 years around September 20, 2025, and admitted to the Shandong Province Prison soon after. His wife, who has been incapacitated for years and relied on him, was left to fend for herself.

Ms. Wang Hongfen, a 77-year-old resident of Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, was sentenced to three years in September 2025, because she refused to sign statements renouncing Falun Gong. For publishing a solemn declaration on Minghui.org to nullify statements that they were previously forced to write to renounce and denounce Falun Gong, two other elderly women in Guiyang City were also sentenced to prison in the second half of 2025, with Ms. Li Yuanyou, 68, sentenced to 4 years, and Ms. Zhan Daihui, 85, given 20 months.

Mr. Cao Shibin, 85, from Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, is a retired senior engineer who designed and developed small arms and light weapons. He was arrested in January 2025 for writing the executive of Fuyu County, urging him not to follow the communist regime in persecuting Falun Gong. A local court sentenced him to three years with a 10,000-yuan fine at an unknown time. A group of police officers and medical workers broke into his home on November 6, 2025, and carried him away on a stretcher, despite his dangerously high blood pressure. He was admitted to the Fuyu County Detention Center. His family has received no other updates about him since.

III. Violating the Law at Every Step of the Prosecution Process

Legal procedure was violated at every step of the prosecution process when the practitioners were sentenced. Three residents of Huaihua City, Hunan Province, appeared in the Zhijiang County Court separately on December 16 and 17, 2024. The judge who presided over the three trials and the prosecutor who charged all three both yelled, “Don’t talk to me about the law” during the proceedings.

In Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province, the police threatened to sentence a married couple to heavier sentences if their family hired a lawyer from Beijing for them.

Below are additional details.

a. When the Cases Rest with the Police and Prosecutor

1) Practitioners Being Roughed Up or Abused During and After Arrests

Mr. Guo Haicheng, of Bin County, Heilongjiang Province, went to nearby Fangzheng County to purchase produce for his small business on September 4, 2024, only to be arrested for talking to the farmers about Falun Gong’s health benefits. While raiding his home, the police beat him in front of his neighbors. Two of his teeth were knocked out and he also had several other injuries. Yet the police forbade him from seeking treatment. The poor living environment and abuse at the detention center made it hard for him to recover. He was later sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Ms. Yu Mei, 58, and Ms. Wu Shaochuan, 62, both of Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, were arrested on May 14, 2023. During interrogation at the police station, both women were handcuffed, searched, and had their photos and fingerprints taken against their will. Ms. Yu refused to comply and was held down by several officers. They cut her finger and took her fingerprints. The practitioners were released after 15 days of detention and taken back into custody on September 16, 2024. They stood trial on March 19, 2025, and were both sentenced to three years at an unknown time.

Ms. Gao Ying, of Beizhen City, Liaoning Province, was arrested on May 24, 2022. Because she refused to answer the police’s questions, the officer slapped her in the face, hit her in the ribs, and stabbed her ribs with a pen. The left side of her face, as well as multiple places on her body and arms, were covered with bruises. For the next few days, she was repeatedly denied admission by the local detention center due to her elevated temperature. While she was released soon after, the police took her back into custody in April 2024 and submitted her case to the procuratorate. She was sentenced to four and a half years in mid-January 2025.

Ms. Xu Chunfeng, a 62-year-old resident in Songming County, Yunnan Province, was arrested at home at midnight on April 25, 2024. Due to her medical condition, the detention center denied her admission three times. By the time the police reluctantly released her on bail three days later, she hadn’t been given anything to eat since her arrest. She was made to stand trial on September 23, 2025 and the judge instructed the bailiff to remove her microphone to stop her from talking, when she said she broke no law in exercising her constitutional right to freedom of belief. She received the two-year verdict in the mail on September 29, 2025.

2) Unlawful Searches of Practitioners’ Homes

Mr. Kong Fanwei, a 60-year-old Tianjin resident, was arrested at a community fair on July 3, 2024, for exchanging paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong. 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 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 seven and a half years. He was admitted to prison the next day.

Ms. Yao Yan, a Jilin City, Jilin Province, resident, was arrested on April 25, 2023, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials in a residential area. She was released on bail shortly after. To avoid further persecution, she went into hiding and was put on the wanted list.

The police broke into Ms. Yao’s home after 7 p.m. on April 17, 2024, by hiring a locksmith. They demanded to know Ms. Yao’s whereabouts. Her husband replied that she had not returned home for a month. The police then searched Ms. Yao’s son’s personal cell phone before demanding to see his business phone as well.

The three officers searched every inch of the home, including under the bed and the shoe cabinet. They threatened to send Ms. Yao to jail if her son refused to reveal her whereabouts. One officer showed Ms. Yao’s son the information about her on their online wanted list and said she could be arrested anywhere.

When the police attempted to stay there to wait for Ms. Yao to come back, her husband complained about the harassment. One officer replied, “You have a Falun Gong [practitioner] in your family and you still complain about us staying at your home?”

Ms. Yao was arrested on September 8, 2024, and taken to the Jilin City Detention Center the next day. Her family learned of her 1.5-year prison sentence in May 2025.

When Mr. Yin Hongwei, of Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, was going to work on December 19, 2024, several officers waiting downstairs arrested him and put a black hood over his head. They then snatched his key and raided his home. His daughter, Ms. Yin, in her early 20s, was also arrested at their shared residence. Mr. Yin’s cash, bank card, ID, and computer were confiscated.

The police also searched the home of Mr. Yin’s parents in the same apartment building. Upon discovering a Falun Gong book, they took Mr. Yin’s father, in his late 70s, to the police station, and held him for a few hours. When Mr. Yin’s mother returned home from a walk outside, she was devastated to see her home in a mess, and that her husband, son, and granddaughter had all been arrested. Before she caught her breath, the police returned for another search. She was so terrified that she suffered a heart attack.

During Mr. Yin and Ms. Yin’s trial on June 19, 2025, their lawyers refuted the police’s claim that they arrested Mr. Yin upon finding Falun Gong materials at his home during a “routine search” and “realized he practiced Falun Gong.” In fact, after Mr. Yin’s wife, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was sentenced to three years on April 22, 2024, the police had been monitoring him, and their raiding his home was to collect “evidence” against him.

The lawyer also questioned whether the police arrested Mr. Yin and his daughter to “maintain stability” ahead of the Asian Winter Games held in Harbin in February 2025. Instead of addressing the lawyer’s comment, the judge ordered him to be removed from the courtroom. He sentenced Mr. Yin to four and a half years and Ms. Yin to one year around December 2025.

3) Reopening an Old Case to Sentence a Practitioner

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 took her to the local detention center in the evening. Although the guards initially refused to admit her due to her high blood pressure, the police forced them to take her. Her blood pressure remained high. She was unable to walk on her own or even sit up after using the toilet.

In order to sentence Ms. Ma, the police reopened her case from 2020, when she was arrested for giving out a Falun Gong pamphlet. While submitting her latest case to the procuratorate, the police accused her of “trying to escape,” and fabricated witness accounts to frame her. She was sentenced to 16 months on December 5, 2024.

4)Illegal Authentication of Evidence

During the joint trial of six Falun Gong practitioners of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, on January 31 and May 22, 2024, three practitioners testified against the police for torturing them during interrogations and coercing them into making false “confessions.” They added that the location where they were held in criminal detention was not a legally recognized detention facility. They demanded the interrogation records be tossed out from the trial.

The practitioners’ lawyers pointed out that the use of the Suzhou City Domestic Security Division (under the police department) to verify and authenticate prosecution evidence was a violation of legal procedures, as only an independent, third-party can check prosecution evidence and issue formal opinions. As such, all the prosecution evidence should have been inadmissible.

The prosecutor alleged that it was illegal for the practitioners to read the Falun Gong teachings together, to produce and distribute Falun Gong informational materials, to register for Minghui.org mailboxes, to hire lawyers to defend other previously arrested practitioners, and to take Falun Gong books from the homes of deceased practitioners whose families decided to give the books away.

The practitioners and their lawyers refuted that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong, and that all of the things they’d done listed above were within their constitutional rights.

The judge sentenced the practitioners on March 20, 2025, with prison terms ranging from four years to seven years.

5) Fabricated Prosecution Evidence

i. 83-Year-Old Man with Brain Atrophy Tricked into Signing Statement to Incriminate His Daughter-in-Law

Two residents of Yilan County, Heilongjiang Province, were wrongfully convicted on February 11, 2025. Ms. Gao Jing, 60, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan. Ms. Fu Guiqin, 74, received two years and ten months with a 100,000-yuan fine.

The two women were arrested on February 8, 2024. Although Ms. Fu was found to have dangerously high systolic blood pressure and struggled to walk on her own, the police used an old surveillance video showing her walking briskly to persuade the detention center to accept her.

After the procuratorate twice returned their cases, citing insufficient evidence, the police tricked Ms. Gao’s father-in-law, Mr. Wang Fuyou, into signing statements incriminating her. Mr. Wang, 83, had been diagnosed with brain atrophy, and once went missing, as he didn’t remember the way home. The police also coerced Ms. Gao’s husband, son, and 83-year-old mother-in-law to provide “testimonies” against her. Liu further fabricated some evidence in the name of Ms. Gao’s family members. With the “additional” evidence, he got the procuratorate to accept the cases after the third try.

During Ms. Fu and Ms. Gao’s court hearing, the judge read aloud Ms. Gao’s husband’s “testimony” against her. When he swore that he had never said anything like that, the judge instructed the bailiffs to remove him from the courtroom. Only then did he and the rest of his family realize that they had been tricked by captain Liu into providing “testimonies” against Ms. Gao without their knowledge. Ms. Gao and Ms. Fu were convicted on February 11, 2025.

ii. Non-existing Witness Included in Prosecution Evidence Against Liaoning Engineer

Mr. Zhang Huiqiang, a 58-year-old former engineer at the Fushun City Ethylene Chemical Factory in Liaoning Province, was sentenced to four and a half years over disputable evidence fabricated by the police.

During Mr. Zhang’s court hearing on March 6, 2025, the prosecutor claimed that a man named Su Bin “witnessed” the police raid Mr. Zhang’s home. His lawyer replied that he watched the police-cam video in its entirety and did not see anyone named Su Bin in it. The judge, however, insisted that there was a Su Bin in the police video and that she saw a photo of Su Bin in the police-supplied evidence.

Mr. Zhang’s daughter, who served as his non-lawyer defender, testified against the police for extorting confessions from her mother. On the day of Mr. Zhang’s arrest, October 21, 2024, his wife noticed that the police had ripped off every page of a calendar with information about Falun Gong and claimed that each page was a separate piece of “evidence.” When she condemned them for fabricating evidence against her husband, they threatened to arrest her. They also seized several blank flash drives and ripped off an old decoration with the word “Fu” (“good fortune” in Chinese) on it.

The police did not allow Mr. Zhang’s wife to verify the confiscated items, nor did they issue her a list of the items as required by law. They took her to the police station and questioned where they got the calendar. She said she didn’t know because she did not bring it home. The police responded, “If it wasn’t you, then it was your husband.” That became her “testimony” against Mr. Zhang.

Mr. Zhang’s daughter added that the cell phone repair shop did not identify her father from the store’s surveillance videos until December 9, 2024, yet the police had already spelled out Mr. Zhang’s name in their case receipt, dated December 7, 2024. Although she demanded her father’s acquittal, he was sentenced to a four-and-a-half year prison term.

Similar to Mr. Zhang’s case, the wife of Mr. Li Zhengxun, 73, of Qingdao City, Shandong Province, was also listed as a prosecution witness, even though she didn’t sign the interrogation records. Another witness listed in the indictment didn’t appear in court for cross examination during his hearing on May 21, 2025.

The Falun Gong informational materials confiscated from Mr. Li’s home were also listed as prosecution evidence against him. Mr. Li pointed out that the General Administration of Press and Publication repealed its ban on the publication of Falun Gong books in 2011. His lawyer followed up, saying that the materials were Mr. Li’s lawful assets and caused no harm to anyone or society at large. Mr. Li was sentenced to one and a half years on July 3, 2025.

iii. Former Senior Lecturer Sentenced Again with “Evidence” Already Used to Convict Her

Ms. Liu Yongying, a 62-year-old senior lecturer at Jiangxi Civil Administration School in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, was sentenced to three years and three months with a 10,000-yuan fine on July 15, 2025. The prosecution evidence included 138 amulets with information about Falun Gong inscribed on them, that were confiscated from Ms. Liu’s car, as well as items seized from her home, including 16 Falun Gong books and a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder.

Ms. Liu pointed out that the 138 amulets were confiscated from her during her previous arrest on April 2, 2018, and were used as evidence to get her sentenced to two years, but the prosecutor was using them again in the latest case. The amulets shown in court this time looked worn and the words were blurred. Yet the judge still sentenced her.

b. When the Practitioners Face Trial

1) Lawless Persecution

Ms. Li Lixia, a 31-year-old physician in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, was arrested on the night of March 25, 2024. She appeared in the Qiaoxi District Court on November 20, 2024, April 1, 2025, and April 24, 2025, before being sentenced to a 1.5-year prison term.

Ms. Li filed an appeal with the Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court, demanding an overturn of the wrongful conviction. She also called for the five police officers involved in her case, and prosecutor Zhang Shiyao from the Qiaoxi District Procuratorate, who indicted her without any legal basis, to be held responsible for their illegal actions.

In her appeal, Ms. Li reiterated the lack of legal basis for her prosecution. Prosecutor Zhang charged her with violating Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which states that anyone using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. China’s law-making body, the People’s Congress, however, has never enacted any law criminalizing Falun Gong, or labeled it a cult. As such, there were no legal grounds for the indictment and subsequent sentencing.

Zhang also cited as legal basis a statutory interpretation of Article 300 of the Criminal Law issued by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate in November 1999. The interpretation required that anyone practicing or promoting Falun Gong be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. Ms. Li pointed out that a new statutory interpretation that replaced the 1999 version took effect on February 1, 2017. The new interpretation made no mention of Falun Gong and emphasized that any indictment against anyone engaging in a cult must be based on solid legal grounds. Since no enacted law in China labels Falun Gong a cult, Ms. Li’s indictment and subsequent sentencing based on the statutory interpretation lacked legal basis.

The prosecution evidence used against Ms. Li included Falun Gong books and other materials confiscated from her home. She condemned prosecutor Zhang for recording every bi-fold Falun Gong flyer as two flyers so that he could reach the minimum pieces of evidence required to file charges against her. Additionally and more importantly, the National Press and Publication Administration had repealed its ban on the publication of Falun Gong books in 2011. Therefore, all her Falun Gong materials were her lawful possessions.

2) Interference with Legal Representation

Ms. Yang Qiaoli, a mother of two school-aged children in Tongchuan City, Shaanxi Province, was arrested on January 8, 2024. Two of her siblings were detained for 15 days when they tried to get her released. After a Beijing lawyer took up her case, the police filed a complaint against the lawyer and his law firm with the Beijing Judicial Bureau, accusing him of “daring to defend a Falun Gong practitioner.”

Prosecutor Gao Guanghua from the Yintai District Procuratorate called the law firm to ask if the lawyer was indeed on its payroll. Gao also asked whether the law firm owner knew that the lawyer was representing a Falun Gong practitioner.

Gao later called the lawyer directly and asked if he agreed that Falun Gong was a cult. The lawyer replied that neither he nor Gao had the credentials to address this question as to whether a belief system was a cult and it was not decided by any government agencies. He also submitted legal documents attesting to the fact that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult and that the ban on Falun Gong books was lifted in 2011.

Gao refused to accept the legal documents and the lawyer’s request to drop the case. He proceeded to indict Ms. Yang at an unknown time.

The Yintai District Court heard the case on August 29, 2024. Ms. Yang’s brother and sister were not allowed to attend the trial or represent her as non-lawyer defenders. After the trial, the police immediately took Ms. Yang out of the courthouse. She was sentenced to six and a half years on July 8, 2025.

Three Dongying City, Shandong Province, residents were convicted on May 26, 2025. Ms. Wang Fan, 50, was sentenced to four years. Her husband, Mr. Du Jianxin, 51, and Mr. Fu Jian, around 47, both received three and a half years.

The three practitioners were arrested on November 29, 2023. Mr. Du’s mother was so distraught by her son’s and daughter-in-law’s arrests that she passed away in May 2024. After the couple’s family hired a lawyer to represent them, the detention center barred the lawyer from visiting his clients and told him he had to get approval from the police first. The police, on the other hand, claimed that they could not grant any meetings because they were in the process of interrogating the couple and gathering prosecution evidence. In fact, the police never went to the detention center to question the couple.

The police later had a practitioner who was abused to the point of developing a mental disorder to sign blank pieces of paper and other fabricated documents to be used as prosecution evidence, which the prosecutor alleged that was sufficient to prove that the three practitioners on trial broke the law.

3) Sentenced Without a Trial or Secretly Sentenced

Ms. Wang Junping, a 77-year-old woman in Beijing, was reported when she talked to a college student about Falun Gong on October 18, 2024. The police released her after a brief interrogation, but arrested her again on February 18, 2025, and took her to a local lockup. Her family was barred from visiting her and also kept in the dark about the status of her case.

After Ms. Wang’s family learned that she was indicted in October 2025, they called the presiding judge several times, but were redirected to other divisions of the local court. When someone finally picked up the phone to talk to them, they were devastated to learn that Ms. Wang had already been sentenced to three and a half years. When they asked why they were not informed of the trial, the person said there was no trial.

Similar to Ms. Wang, many practitioners were secretly sentenced with their families kept in the dark of their case status. Some didn’t know about their sentencing until they were transferred to prison. This not only prevented the families from hiring lawyers to represent the practitioners, but also prevented them from filing appeals within the proper window.

Mr. Sun Hongzhu’s family received a notice in July 2025 stating that he was admitted to the Jinan Prison in Shandong Province on June 25, 2025, to serve a seven-year prison term for his faith in Falun Gong.

Mr. Sun, a 73-year-old resident of Shouguang City, Shandong Province, was arrested on November 9, 2024. The police accused Mr. Sun of using a cult to undermine law enforcement and issued a formal arrest warrant of him. After that, his family was never given any updates about his indictment, trial, or sentencing. They didn’t know about his wrongful conviction and prison admission until they received the prison notice.

IV. Impact of Persecution on the Practitioners

a. Physical Health Jeopardized

After being arrested, many practitioners were tortured for not renouncing their faith. When they held hunger strikes to protest, the authorities force-fed them. Even though many practitioners develop severe medical conditions due to the abuses, they are still sentenced and admitted to prison to serve time.

Just days after Mr. Lei Yangfan’s family finally confirmed his prison sentence after he went missing for ten months, they were devastated to learn that he is now in critical condition.

Mr. Lei Yangfan

Mr. Lei, 51, of Changsha City, Hunan Province, didn’t return home on May 14, 2024. His wife, Ms. Tang Min, knew right away that he must have been arrested again for their shared faith in Falun Gong. She approached various government agencies, but no one told her what happened to her husband. It wasn’t until early March 2025 that she confirmed he'd been given a one-year prison sentence on September 25, 2024.

A prison guard from the Wangling Prison called Ms. Lei’s family on the evening of March 23, 2025, and said that Mr. Lei had fluid accumulation in his lungs and brain. He had been taken to the hospital earlier that day and issued a critical condition notice, while being treated in the intensive care unit.

The family rushed to the hospital the next afternoon, where they found Mr. Lei in a coma. He had no response when they called his name. He was emaciated and disfigured. Many officers, some in police uniform and some in plainclothes, were present in the room. The family wasn’t allowed to bring their cellphones into the room, nor were they allowed to touch Mr. Lei.

After only a few minutes, the police ordered the family to leave. They said that they were also giving them special permission to visit him. When the family asked Mr. Lei’s doctor about his condition before leaving, the doctor said he was already doing much better. His family demanded that the police release him. The police asked them to wait until further notice.

Mr. Feng Guoqing, around 59, from Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on December 4, 2024. Over 200,000 yuan in cash was confiscated from his home. As he refused to cooperate with the interrogation and went on a hunger strike, the police removed his clothing, restrained him on a bed in a spread eagle position, and force-fed him. He was forced to relieve himself on the bed. Both of his kidneys failed as a result the abuse.

Mr. Feng appeared in the Nancha County Court on June 20, 2025. His lawyer was informed on July 5 that he was sentenced to six years and fined 10,000 yuan. The paper currency printed with Falun Gong messages that was confiscated from him was expropriated.

Mr. Wang Zebin, 53, a former employee of the Harbin City Bearing Factory in Heilongjiang Province, was arrested at home on December 19, 2024. He started a hunger strike that day and was force-fed seven days later. The nurse failed to insert the feeding tube into his stomach and yanked it out violently, causing him excruciating pain. He held another hunger strike on January 28, 2025, after the detention center forbade him from doing the Falun Gong exercises. He began to experience pain a few days later and was found to have kidney stones. He was operated on and taken back to the detention center after being discharged. He stood trial on July 4 and was sentenced to three and a half years on August 13.

Ms. Fu Yunping, who was working in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, was arrested on April 7, 2025, for talking to someone about Falun Gong. The police raided her home and found only a media player with Falun Gong lectures in it. To collect more “evidence” against her, they interrogated all of her coworkers at a hotel and demanded to know whether she had said anything to them about Falun Gong.

The detention center called Ms. Fu’s family on June 19 to say that she’d had a stroke and was being treated at the hospital. When her family visited her, she was unable to move one side of her body or speak. She was tied up in the bed, but seemed to have a clear mind. Her family applied to have her released on bail, but the judge in charge of her case denied their request. She was sentenced to one year and nine months around November 2025.

Dr. Zhao Junfang, a 63-year-old internist in Haicheng City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to three years on October 23, 2025. While awaiting the results of her appeal case, she developed extremely high blood pressure, numbness in one part of her body, and foggy mind. Her family is very worried about her.

b. Financial Persecution After Serving Prison Terms

Ms. Wang Rongjun, a 74-year-old retired store sales associate, and her daughter, Ms. Na Yan, a nurse in her 40s, from Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, were arrested at their shared residence on July 13, 2021. The mother and daughter were both convicted in February 2022, each receiving three years and two months with 10,000 yuan fines.

Upon being released from prison on August 9, 2024, Ms. Na learned that she had been fired by her employer, the Shenyang City Sixth Hospital, during her prison term, without her knowledge. She requested a reinstatement of her job, but the hospital insisted that a “convicted felon” must be terminated.

Ms. Wang was issued her retirement benefits for an unknown portion of her prison term, but the local social security bureau later stopped the payments. After she was released in August 2024, the Social Security Bureau still did not reinstate her pension and ordered her to return the benefits paid during her prison term first, otherwise, they would continue her pension payment suspension.

Mr. Liu Jinsheng, 50, of Anze County, Shanxi Province, was sentenced to three years with a four-year probation and a 5,000-yuan fine on December 25, 2024. The appeals court rejected his appeal on February 26, 2025, without holding a hearing. His employer, the Anze County Power Company, was forced to fire him in April 2025. He is now being closely monitored by the local police and the Justice Bureau, and is not allowed to go out of town.

c. Impact on Families

1) Spouses Sentenced for Seeking Justice for Their Loved Ones

Ms. Liu Cong, a 44-year-old woman in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to four years and fined 20,000 yuan, her family learned on June 19, 2025. Her wrongful conviction stemmed from her efforts to seek justice for her husband, Mr. Luan Changhui, a 55-year-old boat engineer. She represented him as his family defender during his trial. After he was sentenced to four years on November 30, 2021, she filed an appeal on his behalf. When the appeal was denied, she filed a motion to reconsider the wrongful sentence. The authorities retaliated against her and arrested her at 5 a.m. on July 12, 2024.

Ms. Chu Qingzhen, of Laiyang City, Shandong Province, was arrested on October 29, 2024, after the police suspected her of using her newly-purchased computer to produce Falun Gong materials. After the police submitted her case to the procuratorate, her husband, Mr. Song Xuechun, also a practitioner, applied to represent her as a family defender. Yet on January 18, 2025, two days before Ms. Chu’s hearing, the court suddenly notified Mr. Song that he was no longer allowed to defend his wife in court. Although he still decided to represent his wife, he was arrested on the morning of January 20, as soon as he left his apartment building with the defense statement. Ms. Chu was later sentenced to two years and Mr. Song to three and a half years.

2) Families’ Ordeals

Ms. Zhao Caixia, 73, was approached by the police and had her luggage searched while she and her sister were waiting to board a train at the Harbin City Train Station in Heilongjiang Province on April 25, 2025. Upon discovering paper currency printed with information about Falun Gong, the police arrested the sisters and took them to a police station. The police also raided both sisters’ homes and seized their Falun Gong books, informational materials, and portraits of Falun Gong’s founder.

While her sister was released after 15 days, Ms. Zhao was held in custody and later sentenced to 2.5 years. Her husband and daughter, both of whom are disabled and rely on her for care, have struggled to fend for themselves since she was taken away.

Mr. Wang Jianying, an 81-year-old retired government employee, and his sister, Ms. Wang Yuying, 68, both of Gongzhuling City, Jilin Province, were arrested on August 7 and 8, 2024, respectively. Around September 20, 2024, Ms. Wang died in the detention center. The authorities offered her family 30,000 yuan in exchange for their silence regarding her suspicious death.

Mr. Wang was released on bail around September 24, 2024, after his sister’s funeral. The police continued to harass him on a regular basis. They also installed a surveillance camera at their neighbor’s home, facing Mr. Wang’s front door. He was taken to the local court in a wheelchair on June 5, 2025 and sentenced to five years days later. His 75-year-old wife is now left at home to fend for herself, as their only son died in 2023.

Mr. Miao Jianguo, a 60-year-old electrician in Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, was arrested at home on August 21, 2024. The police accused him of promoting Falun Gong and defaming government officials in his retirement application to his former employer, the Jinzhou Railroad Bureau East Section.

In the application, Mr. Miao recounted his 3-year forced labor camp term given in 2002, a 4-year prison sentence in 2008 and a 1.5-year prison term in 2022. Following his arrest in 2001, his eight-month pregnant wife, also a Falun Gong practitioner, was so distressed that she suffered placental abruption, resulting in the unborn child’s death. She was never able to carry a baby again. She passed away in 2022, after enduring years of persecution, while Mr. Miao was still detained. All of the information became his “crime” that resulted in another five-year prison, handed down by the judge on April 16, 2025. He was also fined 6,000 yuan.

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