(Minghui.org) A 64-year-old woman in Datong City, Shanxi Province, was sentenced to three and a half years for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Chen Zhongli’s prison sentence stemmed from her arrest on September 5, 2025, while she was on her way home. Officers from the Gucheng Police Station brought her home and ordered her to open the door. When she refused to comply, they twisted her arms, but she refused to give in. After a nearly one-hour standoff, the police called in a locksmith to open the door.
Ms. Chen’s Falun Gong books, a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, cash, and electronics totaling over 10,000 yuan were confiscated. She was taken to the Pingcheng District Police Department. The police revealed during the interrogation that her neighbor had reported for her for putting up stickers with information about Falun Gong in the hallway of the apartment building. She refused to sign the list of confiscated items and was transferred to the Datong City First Detention Center that night.
Ms. Chen’s daughter was summoned to the Datong City Domestic Security Burear on September 8, 2025, to pick up her detention notice, which listed the date of arrest as September 6 (one day after the actual arrest).
Fearing retaliation from the authorities, many lawyers declined to represent Ms. Chen. It wasn’t until September 21, 2025, that her family finally secured a lawyer to defend her.
The lawyer visited Ms. Chen in the detention center and learned that guard Guo Jiajia had instructed inmates Li Sixian and Sun Yunxiang to beat her. They ordered her to watch TV programs that slandered Falun Gong and hit her even harder when she refused. The would beat her whenever they thought she was being slow. The bruises on her face were visible when her lawyer visited her.
One of the inmates became ill, and Ms. Chen took good care of her. She was moved and stopped beating her.
The lawyer reported the abuse to the prosecutor-in-residence at the detention center. The prosecutor promised to look into the matter, but guard Guo continued to threaten Ms. Chen. Every time after the lawyer visited her, Guo would say things like, “I’ve overheard your conversations with your lawyer. I’ll make sure you remain detained here!”
Officer Li Guoyuan interrogated Ms. Chen in the detention center. When she refused to admit her “guilt” he threatened to arrest her family members. The guards also denied her access to towels and other basic necessities because she refused to recite the detention center rules. Her family deposited money into her commissary account on September 11, 2025, but she was not allowed to use it. She had to borrow others’ towels to wash her face.
Prosecutor Qin Xiujuan of the Pingcheng District Procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant for Ms. Chen on September 23, 2025. Her case was moved to the Yungang District Procuratorate on December 1. Prosecutor He Feng indicted her soon afterwards and moved her case to the Yungang District Court on December 26, 2025.
Ms. Chen’s lawyer was not allowed to review her case file or attend her first hearing on May 28, 2026. Her family was also barred from entering and had to wait outside the courthouse.
A second hearing was held on June 16, 2026. Presiding judge Yuan Chenguang still barred Ms. Chen’s family and lawyer from attending. Yuan sentenced her to three and a half years the next day.
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