(Minghui.org) A 42-year-old woman in Handan City, Hebei Province was sentenced to five years in September 2026 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Du Likun was initially arrested on February 19, 2025, and later released on bail. After the police took her back into custody on August 19, 2026, the Feixiang District Court expedited her case, alleging that she was a flight risk. Her family quickly hired a local lawyer, but the detention center barred the lawyer from meeting with her. They stated that the court had arranged legal representation for Ms. Du and the lawyer needed court approval to visit her.
Ms. Du’s family then hired a lawyer from Beijing. He went to the detention center on August 28, 2026, and learned that his client had gone on a hunger strike five days ago and was transferred to the Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University of Engineering, which is a police hospital.
The lawyer went to the hospital the next day and noted that Ms. Du was still on a hunger strike. She had faint breathing with her systolic blood pressure registered at 190-200 mmHg (a normal range is 120 or lower).
Despite Ms. Du’s condition, the Feixiang District Court had her driven to the courthouse in an ambulance on September 1, 2026. She refused to be tried, as she had broken no law by practicing Falun Gong. She dismissed the court-appointed lawyer on the spot.
Judge Liu Yanfeng, who had previously ignored Ms. Du’s warning that he would be breaking the law if he put her on trial without any legal basis, negotiated with her two lawyers, urging them to persuade her to agree to go through with the trial. When that didn’t happen, Liu turned to Ms. Du’s mother, promising to allow the older woman to be her daughter’s non-lawyer defender and other family members to attend the trial.
Ms. Du’s mother refused to “work on” her daughter. Judge Liu then had Ms. Du driven back to the police hospital. He sentenced her to five years weeks later. It is unclear whether he had held another court hearing before issuing the verdict.
Ms. Du is appealing the wrongful conviction. Prior to her latest persecution, she and her mother, Ms. Yang Fenglian, were repeatedly targeted for practicing Falun Gong. Both were arrested in October 2000 when they went to Beijing to appeal for their right to practice Falun Gong. Ms. Du was only 16 at the time, yet the police shocked her with electric batons and force-fed her brutally. After she was released in July 2001, she was expelled from school.
After she grew up, Ms. Du married Mr. Ma Yongxiao, who also practices Falun Gong. He and his mother-in-law were arrested when Ms. Du was arrested on February 19, 2025. Mr. Ma and his mother-in-law are currently under house arrest and awaiting prosecution.
See the related reports for details of the three family members’ persecution.
Related Reports:
Hebei Woman Faces Trial for Practicing Falun Gong
Family of Three Detained for Their Faith—Lawyers Denied Visitation
The United Nations Is Concerned about China's Persecution of Yang Fenglian and Her Daughter Du Likun
Mother and Daughter, Tortured to Near Death for Their Belief, Sue Former Chinese Dictator
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