(Minghui.org) A 63-year-old woman in Deyang City, Sichuan Province, was sentenced to four and a half years and fined 15,000 yuan on August 19, 2026, for her faith in Falun Gong. Ms. Jian Yicong is appealing the wrongful conviction.
Ms. Jian, born in May 1963, found her home surrounded by the police around 5 p.m. on March 17, 2026. She jumped out of her second-floor apartment unit and sustained severe injuries.
The police took Ms. Jian straight to the Deyang City Detention Center. They roughed her up during the process but then realized her injuries were severe. They took her to the Deyang City Second Hospital, without notifying her family. She was found to have lumbar spine fracture, comminuted fracture of the thigh bone, and her heel was swelling.
Ms. Jian’s lawyer went to the detention center on March 23 and learned she was hospitalized. The guards refused to tell him which hospital she was taken to.
The Jingfa District Domestic Security Office submitted the case to the Jingyang District Procuratorate, which indicted Ms. Jian and forwarded her case to the Jingyang District Court.
The lawyer received a notice on April 9 saying that his client was discharged and taken back to the Deyang City Detention Center. He visited Ms. Jian there, and learned that she just ended a 21-day hunger strike after the guards allowed her to meet with him that day.
A court date was set for 3 p.m. on May 26 but was changed to 9:30 a.m. on June 4. Ms. Jian’s lawyer was notified at 4 p.m. on June 3 that the hearing would take place at the detention center instead of the courthouse as originally scheduled.
When the lawyer asked the person who called from the court why the trial had been moved to the detention center, the caller said it was not a public hearing. The lawyer pointed out that his client’s case was not one that required a closed-door hearing. The caller replied that they did not want to see Ms. Jian escape in the middle of the hearing. Her lawyer said that she had trouble standing, much less the ability to run away.
The hearing was still held at the detention center on June 4. Ms. Jian’s daughter represented her as a non-lawyer defender. She requested that the prosecutor, the presiding judge, the collegial panel judges, and the clerks be recused if they were members of the Chinese Communist Party and/or its youth organizations. Her reason was that, as atheist Party members, they were not qualified to prosecute her mother for her spiritual belief.
Prosecutor Liu Qin slandered Falun Gong but failed to provide any legal basis to justify her allegations. The presiding judge adjourned the session in two hours.
Ms. Jian took up Falun Gong in October 1998. She makes a living by offering rides on her electric tricycle. Prior to her latest persecution episode, she was repeatedly targeted and served two prison sentences totaling five years. See the related reports for details of her past persecution.
Related Reports:
Detained Incommunicado for Practicing Falun Gong, Sichuan Woman Faces Trial
Sichuan Resident Arrested for Her Faith, Found Tracking Device on Her Tricycle
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