(Minghui.org) The Xishan District Court in Kunming City, Yunnan Province sentenced 13 local residents for their faith in Falun Gong. Nine appealed but saw their wrongful convictions upheld.
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.
The 13 practitioners were arrested during a police sweep on June 6, 2024. The Kunming City Police Department instructed its subordinate agencies to monitor the targeted practitioners and collect evidence against them for at least six months before the operation.
Nine of the practitioners were tried on March 26, 2025 and convicted on May 1, 2025.
Ms. Liu Cuixian, 73, was sentenced to four and a half years and fined 15,000 yuan; Ms. Li Huanzhen, 69, was sentenced to three years and fined 10,000 yuan; Ms. Zhang Xiuzhen, 66, was sentenced to seventeen months and fined 5,000 yuan; and Mr. Bi Sheng, 62, was sentenced to fifteen months and fined 5,000 yuan. The four did not file an appeal.
The other five practitioners did appeal with the Kunming City Intermediate Court, requesting an overturn of their wrongful convictions: Ms. Liu Xiaoping, 68, was sentenced to four years and fined 10,000 yuan; Ms. Ma Ling, 68, Ms. Zheng Cuilian, 78, and Ms. Yang Huifang, 57, were each sentenced to three years and fined 10,000 yuan; and Ms. Zhu Yongzhen, 72, was given two years and fined 7,000 yuan.
The Kunming City Intermediate Court held a hearing on the five practitioners’ appeal cases between 10: 30 a.m. and 12: 30 p.m. on September 4, 2025. The practitioners refused to be represented by court-appointed lawyers. They testified in their own defense and argued that they didn’t violate any law in practicing their faith. They urged the judge not to follow the communist regime in persecuting Falun Gong.
Prosecutor Xu Lingxin from the Kunming City Procuratorate attended the appeals hearing. The hearing was the first ever in Falun Gong cases since the persecution began decades ago. The court didn’t inform the practitioners’ families of the hearing. One family member who happened to hear about the hearing was stopped at the court entrance.
Presiding judge Yang Fan ruled to uphold the five practitioners’ original verdicts the next day. The practitioners were transferred from the Kunming City Detention Center to Yunnan Province Second Women’s Prison on October 9.
The remaining four practitioners were tried by the Xishan District Court on April 16, 2025, and were sentenced to prison in May 2025. Mr. Guan Yongheng (also known as Guan Xueheng), 49, was sentenced to three years and fined 10,000 yuan; Ms. Wang Yulan, 77, was given two years and fined 10,000 yuan; Ms. Zhang Jiahui, 79, was sentenced to 18 months with 25 months probation and a 7,000-yuan fine; and Ms. Xia Chengfen (also known as Xia Cunfen), 72, was given seven months with 18 months probation and a 6,000-yuan fine. They appealed with the Kunming City Intermediate Court, which ruled at an unknown time to uphold their original verdicts without holding a hearing.
Arrested in a Police Sweep, Four More Yunnan Residents Sentenced to Prison for Practicing Falun Gong
Nine Yunnan Residents Sentenced to Prison for Practicing Falun Gong