(Minghui.org) Minghui.org previously reported that three women in Longkou City, Shandong Province were tried on January 23, 2026, for their shared faith in Falun Gong. This report provides additional details about the case.
Ms. Luan Yanping (in her 50s), Ms. Li Yufang (in her 70s), and Ms. Cui Xiuju (in her 70s) were arrested at a community fair on July 17, 2025. The Longkou City Police Department submitted the case to the Longkou City Procuratorate on August 18, 2025, and prosecutor Lyu Shasha indicted them in less than four days, without allowing the practitioners’ family members to submit the power of attorney to serve as their family defenders.
After judge Chi Ya’nan was assigned to work on the case, the practitioners’ families submitted their power of attorney documents. They requested to review the case file, meet with the practitioners, and be provided with the legal basis for the prosecution. Chi either refused to meet with them or asked irrelevant questions during the meetings. At one point, she claimed that the case was “political and sensitive” and that allowing the family defenders to review the case file would “jeopardize the impartiality of the trial.”
The January 23 hearing was supposed to be open to the public, but only two family members of each practitioner were allowed to attend the session. When the practitioners’ family defenders requested that the practitioners’ handcuffs be removed, the presiding judge, Zhao Yu, denied it, claiming that the detention center guards had put the handcuffs on and that they didn’t have the keys.
The family defenders demanded prosecutor Lyu and judge Zhao be recused from the case, because the defendants had previously filed complaints against them, creating a conflict of interest. Judge Zhao denied the request, with the excuse that it “does not fall under the circumstances stipulated by law.” When the family defenders asked why, Zhao refused to answer and only asked if they had heard her clearly.
Judge Zhao repeatedly interrupted the family defenders when they representing their defense statements. He later even prevented them from asking the defendants questions. When the family defenders asked the court clerk to make a correction to the court proceedings, the clerk responded, “You should just mind your own business and not interfere with others. Others’ work has nothing to do with you.”
Ms. Cui recounted her violent arrest. She was surrounded by eight officers, and two of them grabbed her hands and held her down on the ground. They then took her to the Xufu Police Station and interrogated her. They also held her hand and forced her to sign the interrogation record. As she couldn’t read, she had no idea what it said. The police then ransacked her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, without providing a list of the confiscated items. Despite her dangerously high blood pressure, the detention center still admitted her. She was dizzy and had difficulty remembering other details about her case. However, she remembered the police telling her, “If I say you’ve violated the law, then you have violated the law.” Judge Zhao stopped her from talking and forbade her family defender from asking more questions.
When Ms. Li was being questioned, she said that she was intimidated by the police and forced to sign the interrogation record. Her family defender later protested that prosecutor Lyu’s questions were biased. Yet judge Zhao defended Lyu, saying she had her own way of asking questions.
During the evidence cross-examination stage, prosecutor Lyu didn’t present any actual items in court or call any of the five prosecution witnesses to the stand.
Prosecutor Lyu read a letter from the Yantai City Police Department, which stated that the Falun Gong materials confiscated from the practitioners were cult promotional materials. The practitioners’ family defenders asked Lyu to provide the legal basis for defining Falun Gong as a cult. Judge Zhao interrupted them and said they shouldn’t ask prosecutor Lyu any questions. She added that they could only discuss whether the practitioners were guilty and the severity of their crimes.
Urged by the family defenders, prosecutor Lyu played the surveillance videos of the practitioners distributing Falun Gong materials in the market, as well as videos taken by the police’s body cameras while raiding the practitioners’ homes. The family defenders questioned how these videos proved their clients guilty.
At the end of the hearing, the practitioners all maintained that they didn’t violate any laws in practicing their faith and trying to be good people. Prosecutor Lyu insisted on seeking prison sentences of them.
Longkou, Shandong Province: 12 Falun Gong Practitioners Arrested in One Day, 4 Indicted
70-Year-Old Woman Faces Prosecution for Her Faith, Family Works Tirelessly to Seek Her Release