(Minghui.org) Ms. Song Ruixiang, 74, who lives in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province, was sentenced to two and a half years and fined 16,000 yuan because she practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since July 1999. She is now appealing the wrongful conviction.
Ms. Song was arrested at a farmers’ market in Zhaoyuan County on September 8, 2025, after she was reported for talking to shoppers about the persecution of Falun Gong. She was sent to the Daqing City Second Detention Center.
When Ms. Song’s lawyer visited her on October 14, 2025, she was in very low spirits. Her systolic blood pressure was over 200 mmHg (the normal level is 120 mmHg or lower). She also struggled with emphysema (damaged lung air sacs) and had difficulty breathing and walking.
Despite Ms. Song’s condition, the Ranghulu District Procuratorate still approved her arrest. Her case was later returned to the Zhaoyuan County Police Department for insufficient evidence.
The police re-submitted the case and the prosecutor indicted Ms. Song. The Ranghulu District Court received her case file on November 14, 2025.
During the first court hearing on December 10, 2025, Ms. Song’s lawyer and family defender pointed out that prosecutor Feng Guang failed to thoroughly investigate the case before indicting their client. Feng still recommended a 4.6-year prison sentence.
The second hearing was held on March 11, 2026. Feng adjusted his prison sentence recommendation to two and a half years.
Ms. Song’s lawyer testified against the police. The case file did not include the IDs of the arresting officers as required by law. The file also did not include the interrogators’ signatures, the signatures of the people who took the notes, or Ms. Song’s signature on the police interrogation records.
The lawyer reiterated that prosecutor Feng ignored the police officers’ violations of legal procedures and concluded that the police-supplied evidence was inadmissible in the trial.
The family defender argued that no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong and that the “authentication” of the prosecution evidence did not meet the legal requirements.
Despite the lack of legal basis and concrete evidence, judge Zhang Xinle still sentenced Ms. Song shortly after the second hearing.
Ms. Song took up Falun Gong in 1998. Her many ailments, including lumbar disc herniation, stomach disease, and uterine fibroids, soon disappeared. After the Chinese Communist Party ordered the persecution in 1999, she was arrested at least five other times and tortured while in custody. Her husband and younger brother, who also practiced Falun Gong, both passed away as a result of the persecution.
See the related reports for details of her and her family’s persecution.
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