(Minghui.org) The Taoyuan County Court in Changde City, Hunan Province, sentenced ten locals on November 12, 2025, for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Ms. Wang Xiaoqun, a 76-year-old retired employee of Changde City Commerce Bureau, was sentenced to five years with an 8,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Li Dongzhi was sentenced to four years with a 6,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Li Weiyun and Ms. Yin Hong were each sentenced to three years and nine months with a 6,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Liu Xianjun and Mr. Yao Zhou were each given three and a half years with a 5,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Yang Biqiong, 73, received three years and a 5,000-yuan fine.
Ms. Yang Guiming was given two and a half years with a three-year probation. She was also fined 4,000 yuan.
Ms. You Chuyun was given one year with a one-and-a-half-year probation. She was also fined 2,000 yuan.
Ms. Dong Mingfang was sentenced to nine months with a 1,500-yuan fine and a one-year probation.
The ten practitioners were arrested between 5 and 7 a.m. on November 30, 2023, during a police sweep that also netted at least 16 other practitioners. The Changde City Police Department and its subordinate Wuling District Police Department were responsible for the mass arrests. The police monitored some practitioners for a year before the operation.
Six of the practitioners were taken to a lockup, and over 20 others were put in a brainwashing center.
Ms. Wang, Ms. Liu, Ms. Yang Biqiong, Ms. Yin, Mr. Yao, Ms. You, Ms. Dong, and Ms. Zhang Chuntao were transferred to the Baiheshan Town Detention Center on December 26, 2023. Ms. You, Ms. Dong, and Ms. Zhang were released on bail in 2024. Ms. Zhang died not long after she returned home.
The Taoyuan County Court held a joint hearing of the ten now-sentenced practitioners on November 12, 2025, and convicted all of them at the end of the session.
Ms. Wang, who received 5 5-year prison sentence, spent a total of 19 years behind bars in the past for practicing Falun Gong.
Two Forced Labor Terms Totaling 4 Years
Ms. Wang went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in October 2000 and was arrested. After being escorted back to Hunan, she was given two years of forced labor and fined 5,000 yuan. Four months after she was released, she was arrested again and given another two years of forced labor.
During both labor camp terms, Ms. Wang endured brutal torture. She was shocked with electric batons and forced to sit still on a small stool for long periods of time. The guards also made her stand under the scorching sun for 30 minutes with her arms raised high. They also instructed several drug addicts to carry her to the middle of a staircase and then drop her down. She saw stars and felt her head was about to split open.
Three Prior Prison Terms Totaling 15 Years
Ms. Wang was arrested during a police sweep on December 29, 2005, and sentenced to 7.5 years on May 18, 2006. She was admitted to the Hunan Province Women’s Prison the next month. Because she refused to write statements to renounce her faith, she was forced to stand still for 20-22 hours a day. Her feet and legs became so swollen that they felt like bursting open. Sometimes she lost balance during the standing torture and fell.
The guards later tortured her with other means. They once hung her up for two straight days. They also made her squat for long periods of time and did not allow her to stand up, even during meal times. If her buttocks touched the ground, the inmates poured boiling water over her.
After the marathon torture, Ms. Wang was forced to peel broad beans from 6 a.m. to midnight. As the beans were scooped up from ice water, her hands became stiff, and her fingers deformed after years of hard labor.
Ms. Wang was released in June 2013, only to be arrested three months later and held for an unknown amount of time.
Her next arrest was at home on August 11, 2015, with her sentenced to four years on July 20, 2016.
Ms. Wang was released in August 2019 but arrested again in December that year. She was sentenced to 3.5 years on July 28, 2020, and released on March 23, 2023.
All three of Ms. Wang’s prior prison sentences were given by the Wuling District Court in Changde City.
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