(Minghui.org) A total of 71 cases of Falun Gong practitioners being sentenced for their faith were reported in May 2024.
The newly-reported cases include 7 cases that took place in 2023, 52 in 2024 and 12 cases with unknown years of occurrence. The 2024 cases further broke down to 2 cases in January, 1 in February, 2 in March, 17 in April, 21 in May, as well as 9 cases with unknown months of occurrence. With ever stricter information censorship under the Chinese Communist Party, many details about the practitioners’ indictments, trials, and sentencing were difficult (if not impossible) to collect, which caused further delays in reporting.
The 71 sentenced Falun Gong practitioners came from 17 provinces and 3 centrally controlled municipalities. Liaoning and Hubei topped the list with 12 and 10 cases, respectively. The remaining 18 regions had single digit cases between 1 and 9. The practitioners’ terms ranged from 6 months to 8 years, with 7 practitioners receiving 5 years or more. The practitioner who was sentenced to eight years was also fined 40,000 yuan.
Thirty-four practitioners were 60 or older at the time of their sentencing, including 12 in their 60s, 20 in their 70s, and 2 in their 80s. The two practitioners in their 80s were both from Guizhou Province and sentenced to 4.5 years.
Several of the sentenced practitioners have lost their spouses due to the persecution. A married couple was also among those sentenced, and the husband was struggling with some medical conditions as a result of his hunger strike protesting the detention. The two-year prison sentence of a single mother, for distributing Falun Gong materials, left her two teenage girls in a dire situation. The mother of a U.S. resident was beaten during her arrest, and has been jailed to serve a term of unknown duration.
Some practitioners have already spent more than ten years behind bars before their latest prison sentence. This includes a 53-year-old man who was given another six years, after having served three prison sentences totaling 12.5 years, and a fast food worker who was sentenced to three years after serving a prior ten-year term.
A Beijing resident in her 70s had a heart attack and elevated blood pressure after being interrogated for an entire night without being allowed any sleep. She was allowed to serve the 3.5-year term outside of prison due to her physical condition.
A food vendor in her 50s from Jiangxi Province was arrested while taking a walk in the park. She stood trial in November 2023. The judge ordered her to plead guilty to practicing Falun Gong. She refused to comply and was sentenced to 1.5 years.
The following are details of select sentencing cases. The full list of sentenced practitioners can be downloaded here (PDF).
Sentencing of Mothers
Mother of U.S. Resident Jailed for Her Faith in Falun Gong
Ms. Meng Zhaohong was admitted to a prison in Hebei Province on January 15, 2024 for her faith in Falun Gong. Her daughter, Ms. Ding Yue, who currently resides in California, called on the communist regime to immediately release her mother.
Ms. Meng, a 66-year-old retired nurse in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, was arrested on May 9, 2023 for talking to people about Falun Gong. The police took her to a dark, damp basement in the police department, where she was interrogated. An officer slapped her in the face more than 20 times, resulting in lasting pain in her neck and ears.
The police ordered Ms. Meng to hold a bag containing Falun Gong books and have her picture taken. She refused to give them any chance to fabricate evidence against her.
The police later took Ms. Meng to the Qinhuangdao City Police Hospital for a physical examination. She was found to have tuberculosis and coronary artery sclerosis. As the local detention facilities refused to admit her based on her exam results, the police took her back to the hospital, where she remained before being transferred to the Shijiazhuang Women’s Prison on January 15, 2024 to serve an unknown term.
According to an insider, Ms. Meng demanded to file a motion to reconsider her case in the prison. When her lawyer visited her on April 29, 2024, the two-hour meeting was closely monitored by two prison guards, who also took photos of the motion the lawyer had prepared. Upon seeing one sentence that said Ms. Meng was unfit for incarceration, the guards claimed that she was perfectly healthy and had no illness. Ms. Meng also prepared a motion herself, but the guard didn’t allow her to use that version.
The authorities also suspended Ms. Meng’s pension, using the excuse that she failed to turn in her annual renewal paperwork.
Single Mother of Two Daughters Sentenced to Two Years
The family of a Tianjin resident recently learned that their loved one had been sentenced to a two-year prison term in 2023. Ms. Liang Hui divorced years ago and was given the custody of her two daughters. Her incarceration left the two teenage girls in a dire situation.
Ms. Liang first read Zhuan Falun, the main text of Falun Gong, in September 2020 and found answers to many questions she had about life. She decided to practice Falun Gong in October 2021.
To raise awareness about the persecution, she distributed informational materials in her neighborhood, but was arrested on March 26, 2023. Her family contacted several lawyers, all of whom refused to take the case, citing an internal notice from the communist regime that no lawyers were allowed to represent Falun Gong practitioners.
Ms. Liang’s family learned in early May 2024 that she was sentenced to a two-year term and taken to the Tianjin Women’s Prison sometime in 2023.
Persecution of Families
Mr. Chen Deguang, a 78-year-old resident of Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, was arrested on March 20, 2023 and sentenced to three years and eight months in prison in early April 2024.
This was not the first time that Mr. Chen, a retiree of the now-defunct No. 4 Metallurgical Construction Co., has been targeted for his faith. He and his wife, Ms. Sheng Chunmei, also a Falun Gong practitioner, were repeatedly arrested over the years. In particular, both were sentenced to nine years following their arrests in July 2011.
Ms. Sheng’s health deteriorated as a result of being tortured at the Gansu Province Women’s Prison. She suffered gallbladder infection, hypertension, and diabetes. The prison didn’t release her until she was on the verge of death. She passed away on October 12, 2017, seven weeks after her release. She was 65 years old.
Mr. Chen was also subjected to horrific torture at the Lanzhou Prison. After being released on July 6, 2020, he learned that his pension had been unlawfully revoked in 2012 (the second year of his imprisonment). Not only did the local social security bureau refuse to reinstate his pension, they also asked his daughter to pass on the message that he was required to return the pension payments issued to him between July 2011 (when he was arrested) and 2012 (when the pension was stopped). It was unclear whether he complied.
This was not the first time that Mr. Chen, a retiree of the now-defunct No. 4 Metallurgical Construction Co., has been targeted for his faith. He and his wife, Ms. Sheng Chunmei, also a Falun Gong practitioner, were repeatedly arrested over the years. In particular, both were sentenced to nine years following their arrests in July 2011.
Ms. Sheng’s health deteriorated as a result of being tortured at the Gansu Province Women’s Prison. She suffered gallbladder infection, hypertension, and diabetes. The prison didn’t release her until she was on the verge of death. She passed away on October 12, 2017, seven weeks after her release. She was 65 years old.
Mr. Chen was also subjected to horrific torture at the Lanzhou Prison. After being released on July 6, 2020, he learned that his pension had been unlawfully revoked in 2012 (the second year of his imprisonment). Not only did the local social security bureau refuse to reinstate his pension, they also asked his daughter to pass on the message that he was required to return the pension payments issued to him between July 2011 (when he was arrested) and 2012 (when the pension was stopped). It was unclear whether he complied.
Ms. Wang Yonghua’s family confirmed on April 20, 2024 that the Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province resident had been sentenced to three years for practicing Falun Gong. According to her lawyer, she is suffering from a medical condition due to abuse in the detention center, and she is unable to walk on her own.
This is the second time that Ms. Wang has been sentenced for her faith, following a previous 3.5-year prison term. Her husband, also a Falun Gong practitioner, died in 2017, five years after completing a four-year term during which he endured relentless torture.
Following Ms. Wang’s latest arrest in July 2023, her daughter, Ming (alias), who grew up witnessing her parents being persecuted, faced frequent police harassment. The police also forced the media company she worked for to fire her.
Ming booked a trip to Beijing on March 22, 2024. After she purchased the train ticket, the police called her and demanded that she cancel the trip. She complied. When she was trying to buy another ticket on April 22, she was told that she wasn’t allowed to go to Beijing, due to the upcoming anniversary of the historic April 25 appeal. The police said that she was on travel restriction and must obtain their approval before traveling to Beijing. Ming managed to get the police to allow her to travel to Beijing but they insisted that she return that same day. On the day of her travel, she was stopped by a security officer at the train station and her bag was searched.
Ming later booked a vacation to South Korea. She spent tens of thousands of yuan on the hotel and flight tickets, but the customs officers stopped her and her daughter from boarding the flight and said the police ordered her to report to them immediately. She went to the police station and the police said they had listed her as a “sensitive individual” and put her under “close surveillance.” She wasn’t allowed to travel out of town without their permission, much less leave the country. The police also threatened to force her husband’s employer to fire him.
Mr. Zhang Deguo, a resident of Linghai City, Liaoning Province, was recently admitted to Jinzhou Prison to serve a 1.5-year term.
Mr. Zhang, 74, was arrested on December 5, 2023 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. The police raided his home and confiscated his Falun Gong books and other personal belongings.
When Mr. Zhang’s son applied to be his non-lawyer family defender, the procuratorate and court denied his request, claiming that he couldn’t prove his relationship to Mr. Zhang.
The family was unable to hire a lawyer for Mr. Zhang, so they were left in the dark regarding the status of his case. His son only recently confirmed that Mr. Zhang had been transferred to Jinzhou Prison, but he knows nothing about his indictment, trial, sentencing, or when he was transferred to prison.
Prior to this latest sentence, Mr. Zhang had already served two labor camp terms and been brutally tortured. His wife Ms. Li Jinqiu, their son Mr. Zhang Lei and his wife Ms. Zhao Xiaochun, and her mother Ms. He Yuxiang have all been persecuted for their shared faith.
Just months before Mr. Zhang’s own arrest, his wife Ms. Li, 73, was seized by the police on July 31, 2023, for distributing Falun Gong materials at a community fair. She was sentenced to four years with an 8,000-yuan fine on November 13, 2023.
Arbitrary Arrests and Sentencing
71-Year-Old Woman Roughed Up, Jailed for Talking to People about Falun Gong
A 71-year-old woman in Hengyang City, Hunan Province, has been admitted to Hunan Province Women’s Prison to serve a one-year term for her faith in Falun Gong.
Ms. Luo Fenghua was reported for talking to people about Falun Gong on June 27, 2023. She was arrested as she was about to check out at a supermarket and taken to the police station, where the four people who reported her were also present.
Without showing an arrest warrant or any identification, the police detained Ms. Luo in the station for eight hours before transferring her to the local lockup at around 11 p.m. Six officers handcuffed her so roughly that a piece of flesh nearly two inches long was torn off her left thumb. The police offered no treatment for her bleeding finger and detained her overnight in a cold, dark room.
Freezing and starving, Ms. Luo was taken to the hospital for a physical exam at 10 a.m. the next day. She refused to cooperate, so the police falsified reports of her exam. By the time she was taken to the detention centre at around 4:30 p.m., she hadn’t eaten for over 40 hours and was so weak that the police had to find her a wheelchair.
The police confiscated 320 yuan in paper bills with information about Falun Gong printed on them from Ms. Luo. Printing messages on banknotes is one creative way that Falun Gong practitioners use to raise awareness about the persecution. The banknotes were later used as evidence against her.
Ms. Luo was held in the lockup for four months and 12 days and lost over 22 pounds during that time.
Ms. Luo developed acute pancreatitis on October 28. When she was hospitalized for treatment, the guards kept her shackled to the bed. They wouldn’t remove the shackles even when she went to the bathroom. The shackles rubbed against her heels, causing them to bleed.
On November 17, the police put her in a police car, still handcuffed and shackled, and drove her for over an hour to the Liuyang City Court.
At the courthouse, Ms. Luo was confused and didn’t get out of the car immediately. An officer in his 20s shouted at her three times, “Are you getting out or not?” Before she could respond, he dragged her out of the car and all the way into the courthouse, before throwing her into a chair in a small room. Her feet dragged against the ground and her top was lifted and wrapped around her head, making it difficult for her to breathe. Her upper body was also completely exposed.
When Ms. Luo refused to enter the courtroom, the judges and clerk went to the little room and announced that she was sentenced to 12 months with 15 months probation and a 10,000-yuan fine. Her “crime” was “undermining law enforcement with a cult organisation,” the standard pretext used to frame Falun Gong practitioners.
When Ms. Luo filed an appeal on December 22, the police and justice bureau harassed and threatened that they would take her back into custody. A court official went with her lawyer to her home on December 28, 2023. Because she wasn’t there, they forced her son to sign the letter to withdraw her appeal. She was taken to the Hunan Province Women’s Prison, even though she wasn’t originally required to serve time in prison given her probation.
Shanxi Woman Sentenced to Two Years in Prison Over Non-existing Witness Accounts
More than ten police officers in Yangquan City, Shanxi Province broke into Mr. Wang Zhongming’s workplace at 11 a.m. on October 19, 2023 and asked if he had posted a Falun Gong-related video online from his cell phone. He acknowledged that the video was posted from his phone but said he did not remember posting the video himself.
The police took Mr. Wang, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong, to his home. They snatched his key and opened the door. His wife, Ms. Li Guilin, happened to be home and was arrested on the spot. The police confiscated her computer, printer, Falun Gong books, and informational materials.
Ms. Li appeared in the Pingding County Court on March 27, 2024. Her lawyer entered a not-guilty plea for her. He said that the prosecutor failed to present any evidence showing how Ms. Li had violated the law or caused harm to anyone. Her practicing Falun Gong was merely her personal belief, and telling others about it harmed no one.
The lawyer added that no law in China has ever criminalized Falun Gong. The General Administration of Press and Publication long ago since lifted the ban on Falun Gong publications, in 2011.
Unable to refute the lawyer, the prosecutor claimed that Ms. Li’s cellphone retained the record of her sending Falun Gong videos and articles written by Falun Gong’s founder to seven people, including her daughter, a community worker, and five other people with unknown identities. Yet except Ms. Li’s daughter and the community worker, all other “witnesses” said they had no recollection of Ms. Li sharing the said videos with them.
The judge didn’t announce the verdict at the end of the hearing, but sentenced Ms. Li to a two-year prison term weeks later.
60-Year-Old Liaoning Woman Paralyzed After Stroke, Tried at Home for Practicing Falun Gong
Ms. Gao Shufen, a 60-year-old resident of Jianchang County, Liaoning Province, suffered a stroke in 2023, and one side of her body was paralysed. Despite her condition, the local judge and prosecutor held a hearing at her home on April 25, 2024 and sentenced her to 1.5 years with a 5,000-yuan fine on May 30, 2024.
Ms. Gao’s latest prison sentence was triggered by an incident on March 28, 2019. She and six other practitioners went to a nearby village to distribute Falun Gong informational materials that day and were reported by a villager. The police soon arrived to arrest them, but Ms. Gao managed to escape. The police put her on the wanted list and promised a 5,000 yuan reward to whomever reported her.
Ms. Gao later returned home, only to be arrested on March 2, 2023. She had a medical episode and was taken to a local hospital, where she remained for an entire day. The police then released her under house surveillance.
Three officers showed up at Ms. Gao’s home on April 20, 2023 to see if she was well enough to be taken back into custody. They measured her blood pressure and got a reading of 280/140 mmHg (the normal range is 120/80 or lower). The relentless persecution resulted in a relapse of her hypertension. The police did not arrest her, and left.
The police called Ms. Gao’s son on May 15, 2023 and ordered him to take his mother to the detention centre. He refused because his mother had become confused due to her extremely high blood pressure. The police called her son again on July 12, 2023 and demanded that he get her to sign statements renouncing Falun Gong. He said she would not sign.
Ms. Gao had a stroke shortly after and was hospitalised. She was unresponsive and kept her eyes closed. The police attempted to force her family to sign statements to renounce Falun Gong on her behalf, to which they said no.
Prosecutor Long Dan of the Lianshan District Procuratorate went to the hospital along with a woman to depose Ms. Gao on August 11, 2023. She was still lying in bed, confused, and her eyes were shut. Long threatened to give her a heavy sentence and send her to a psychiatric hospital if her family refused to cooperate with them.
Long and a judge went to Ms. Gao’s home on April 25, 2024. She was paralyzed on one side of her body and lay in bed with her eyes closed. Long read out aloud the indictment and the judge asked if Ms. Gao admitted to her “guilt” of practicing Falun Gong. She shook her head without saying anything. Her husband prepared a four-page defense statement but was stopped after he read the first page. The judge said he’d pass the defense statement to the presiding judge.
The court delivered a guilty verdict to Ms. Gao’s home on May 30, 2024. She was sentenced to 1.5 years and fined 5,000 yuan. Given her condition, she was ordered to serve a six-month house surveillance term first before starting her prison term.
63-Year-Old Guangdong Woman Sentenced to 5 Years for Seeking Reinstatement of Suspended Pension
The Chikan District Court in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, sentenced a local woman to five years in May 2024 for seeking to reinstate her suspended pension.
Ms. Su Guiying, 63, had her pension suspended in August 2020, days after she completed a four-year prison sentence for her faith in Falun Gong. There was no report of the reason for suspension, but the social security bureau was likely attempting to recoup the retirement benefits issued to her during her imprisonment.
There have been many reports of social security bureaus across China doing similar things to other Falun Gong practitioners, citing a policy barring retirees serving time from receiving pension benefits. Those who were still issued a pension while in prison often faced the same predicament as Ms. Su, with the authorities withholding their future benefits to “pay back” the already issued payments.
Ms. Su visited the social security bureau numerous times to request reinstatement of her pension. She was always turned away, however, and one worker even dared her to sue them. She filed complaints against the bureau with its supervising agency, only to be given the runaround and have her case dismissed by the local court.
In retaliation to her complaints, the authorities ordered Ms. Su’s arrest on May 11, 2023. The police raided her home without showing a search warrant. When Ms. Su condemned them for breaking the law, they flashed a piece of paper and asked her to sign it. She tried to examine it to see if it was indeed a search warrant as they claimed, but they snatched it back and no longer demanded her signature. They then accused her of refusing to sign the “search warrant.” They did not issue her a list of confiscated items as required by law.
Ms. Su was sentenced to five years in May 2024, less than four years after she completed a prior term for practicing Falun Gong.
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