(Minghui.org) The Qingyang District Court in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, convicted five locals on September 19, 2025, for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Zhang Ruifang, 69, was sentenced to three years and eight months with a 30,000-yuan fine.Ms. Jing Guihua, 60, was given three years and two months with a 20,000-yuan fine.Ms. Xu Shuyao, 62, received two and a half years with a 20,000-yuan fine.Mr. Nie Zhongyong, 78, was given two years and two months with a 10,000-yuan fine.Ms. Ming Yue, 62, was sentenced to one year and eight months with a 10,000-yuan fine.
The four women were arrested on the afternoon of July 8, 2024, as they were leaving the local Renmin Park. The arresting officers from the Huangwa Street Police Station raided their homes and confiscated their valuables. They were put on residential surveillance at a secret location for a month before being transferred to the Chengdu City Detention Center.
The police revealed that they had been monitoring Ms. Ming for months before the arrest. They even installed surveillance devices at her mother’s residence. They took pictures of her being out and about. After her arrest, they shadowed her sister for a period of time.
Mr. Nie was arrested at a bus stop on August 16, 2024, by officers from the Qingyang District Police Department. He was also held at the Chengdu City Detention Center.
The trial at the Qingyang District Court on September 19, 2025 was scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m., but it did not begin until 11 a.m. Judge Li Bo allowed each practitioner to have only two immediate family members to attend the hearing. Two friends of one practitioner managed to enter the courtroom, but was removed soon afterwards.
Ms. Ming’s mother had been approved to serve as her non-lawyer defender, but she was stripped of her right at the last minute and only allowed to attend as a spectator.
Ms. Jing’s husband was allowed to represent her as a non-lawyer defender. He requested that judge Li be recused. Li stepped away for 5 minutes and then returned to preside over the trial. He reprimanded Ms. Jing’s husband whenever the latter brought up “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance,” the core principles of Falun Gong.
Li also threatened to deprive Ms. Jing’s husband of his right to defend her as he was presenting his defense statement. Prior to the court hearing, Li didn’t allow him to review the case file until two days before the trial and only gave him a half day to review everything. He was not allowed to make a carbon copy of the file and could only read and transcribe case details.
Li convicted all five practitioners at the end of the hearing.
Mr. Nie is a retired physician of the 3117 Factory Hospital in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. He took up Falun Gong in September 1995 and soon regained health and quit many bad habits.
Mr. Nie and his wife, also a Falun Gong practitioner, were arrested on January 10, 2001, by officers from the Baiyun District Police Department and a local police station in Guiyang City. The police seized the couple’s key and raided their home three times.
During interrogation, the police ordered the couple to write statements to renounce Falun Gong and kept them in a hallway with their hands cuffed. It was deep winter and the couple’s hands and feet became numb and lost feeling after long-time exposure to the cold weather. The police also did not allow them to sleep or eat for 48 hours straight.
The couple was released two weeks later after each was forced to pay 300 yuan. Their son, who did not practice Falun Gong, was also arrested together with them and held in custody for 48 hours. He was then ordered to persuade his parents to renounce Falun Gong.
To avoid further persecution, Mr. Nie and his wife lived away from home and eventually settled in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. He was arrested again in August 2024 and sentenced in 2025.