(Minghui.org) An 86-year-old woman in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to eight months with a 6,000-yuan fine on July 15, 2026, for her faith in Falun Gong. Her pension will also be suspended for eight months beginning in August 2026.

Ms. Zhan Yongying took up Falun Gong on October 27, 1995, and soon recovered from her decades-long hyperthyroidism, atrophic gastritis, and colitis. After the Chinese Communist Party started the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, she held firm to her faith and became a target.

Her prison sentence stemmed from her arrest on April 6, 2023. She was home that morning when seven officers from the Zhanqian Police Station broke in at 6:30 a.m. Two officers restrained her while the rest searched her rooms. They confiscated three Falun Gong books and several copies of Falun Gong informational materials.

Ms. Zhan refused to go with the police to the police station, and they threatened to seize the portrait of the founder of Falun Gong from her home. To protect the portrait, she complied with the police order.

Ms. Zhan’s family was not allowed to visit her at the police station. She was so terrified by the arrest that her blood pressure shot up. The police still took her to the Dalian City Detention Center, which declined to admit her after a required physical exam indicated she was unfit for detention.

The police released Ms. Zhan on bail, only to deceive her into opening the door on January 20, 2024, and take her back into custody. After a few hours at the Zhanqian Police Station, she was driven to the Dalian City Detention Center, which declined to admit her due to her advanced age. It was after 10 p.m. that the police sent her home.

The Pulandian District Court called Ms. Zhan’s son on March 11, 2025, saying that they were set to hold a trial of her at her own home. Only then did the family learn that she had been indicted.

Details of the trial scheduled to take place at Ms. Zhan’s home are unknown. She was sentenced to eight months with a 6,000-yuan fine on July 15, 2026. It is unclear whether she had been taken back into custody to serve time.

The court also had Ms. Zhan’s bank, which received direct deposits of her pension payments, notify her that her pension was to be stopped for eight months beginning in August 2026. She was not given an official court notice of the pension suspension.

Ms. Zhan worked for 34 years before her retirement. By law, she is entitled to her hard-earned pension benefits. The court, however, imposed an eight-month pension suspension without any legal basis.