(Minghui.org) The trial of a 66-year-old woman in Baoding City, Hebei Province, is still pending after three hearings between June and September 2026. Ms. Guo Zhiling, who was arrested for practicing Falun Gong, is awaiting a verdict while held at the Baoding City Detention Center.
Ms. Guo was arrested as soon as she walked out of her apartment building on the morning of November 4, 2025. The police targeted her after someone reported seeing self-adhesive stickers with Falun Gong messages at a certain location three days prior. They pored over surveillance cameras and saw her at that location. They followed her for two days before making the arrest.
Ms. Guo was taken to the Baoding City Detention Center, which declined to admit her after a required physical exam revealed she had a gastric cyst. She was taken back to the Hepingli Police Station, but the police used connections and eventually got her admitted to the detention center. She was indicted by the Gaoyang County Procuratorate on May 2, 2026.
Prior to Ms. Guo’s first hearing by the Gaoyang County Court on June 18, 2026, she requested a jury trial, which usually consists of a three-member or a seven-member collegial panel that functions like a mixed tribunal and consists of both professional judges and people’s jurors.
During the hearing, however, only presiding judge Li Zhiyong and two assistant judges Zheng Fei and Chen Hongqiang from the Gaoyang County Court were present. When Ms. Guo’s lawyer asked why his client’s request was not honored, judge Li replied that the current jurors’ five-year term had expired and that the court was still in the process of selecting new jurors.
The lawyer then asked why Ms. Guo’s older sister, in her 80s, was not allowed to attend the trial. Li claimed that was because they did not want to risk the elderly woman having a medical emergency during the trial.
The lawyer and Ms. Guo’s non-lawyer defender never received a copy of her indictment within the legally required time window. Li acknowledged this “procedural issue” and adjourned the session.
A second hearing was held at the detention center on July 9, 2026. The same three judges showed up, but still no jurors. The explanation given was again “new jurors still being selected.”
Ms. Guo’s sister was still barred from attending the trial. Judge Li claimed that was an order from his superiors. Only one other of Ms. Guo’s relatives was allowed at the hearing.
Ms. Guo explained how, even though Falun Gong restored her health, she was repeatedly targeted for her faith. She started to practice Falun Gong on March 3, 1999, and soon recovered from mammary hyperplasia, chest tightness, and gynecological issues. After the communist regime started persecuting Falun Gong four months later, she was arrested many times. She was previously sentenced to one year and three months on December 31, 2020. Her husband died in 2021 while she was incarcerated.
Her lawyer pointed out that no police videos captured his client putting up stickers at the said location. Her being seen at that location in some of the footage should not be admissible evidence. Additionally, the items confiscated from her home did not include any stickers.
The prosecutor accused Ms. Guo of “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used to frame Falun Gong practitioners. Her lawyer argued that the Falun Gong books confiscated from her home were her lawful possessions because no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult.
The lawyer also requested that the informant appear in court to be cross examined. Judge Li responded by ending the session because “there’s not enough time as it’s almost lunchtime.”
The third hearing on September 17, 2026, also took place at the detention center.
Presiding judge Li allowed Ms. Guo’s lawyer to verify the amount of Falun Gong informational materials used as evidence against her, but he prohibited the lawyer from reading out loud the content in the materials or discuss how Ms. Guo’s having such materials had violated the law.
Ms. Guo’s lawyer pointed out again that the police failed to provide any video to show that it was her who put up the stickers.
In her final statement, Ms. Guo emphasized that she strove to be a good person by following Falun Gong’s principles and she didn’t commit any crime in practicing her faith.
The hearing lasted nearly eight hours. No verdict was announced.
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