(Minghui.org) After four hearings, ten practitioners who live in Fushun City, Liaoning Province were sentenced to prison on April 23, 2026, by the Wanghua District Court, because they practice Falun Gong.
Mr. Wang Nanfang, 70, was sentenced to seven years and fined 20,000 yuan.
Mr. Zhou Shuyou (63), Mr. Liu Haitao (in his 50s), Ms. Lai Chunlian (73), and Mr. Wang Guozhong (disabled and in his early 40s), were each sentenced to five years in prison and fined 15,000 yuan.
Mr. Wang Zexing (58), Ms. Hu Mingli (in her 60s), Ms. Hu Fengju (in her 60s), Ms. Huang Yuping (64), and Ms. Li Shuqin (in her 60s and who has impaired eyesight and needs help walking), were each given four years and six months and fined 10,000 yuan.
The ten practitioners were arrested during a police sweep on July 12, 2024. While they arrested Mr. Wang Nanfang, the police knocked him down and held him against the floor, before stepping on his face and beating him. He had to be taken to the hospital for treatment in an ambulance.
The Qingyuan County Domestic Security Office submitted the case to the Wanghua District Procuratorate in September 2024. Prosecutor Wang indicted them on December 20, 2024, and charged the practitioners with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” the standard pretext used by the Chinese courts to criminalize Falun Gong practitioners.
The practitioners appeared in the Wanghua District Court four times before they were convicted.
During the first hearing on November 11, 2025, the practitioners and their defenders requested to see the prosecution evidence in court. The prosecutor then presented the Falun Gong books and informational materials confiscated from the practitioners’ homes. The variety and quantity, however, did not match what was stated in the police-produced list of confiscated items.
At the second hearing on January 27, 2026, the prosecutor accused Mr. Wang Nanfang of installing a satellite dish for a 75-year-old woman. The new evidence presented was that the word “Tang” appeared on the woman’s TV, which was evidence that Mr. Wang was “spreading evil information,” according to the prosecutor.
The prosecutor also presented other evidence submitted by officers Wang Tong and Zhang Minghui of the Qingyuan County Domestic Security Office. The police stated that Dong Qian of the Qinyuan Town Qiaonan Community, Yang Yi of the Tianqiao Community, and Li Junying of the Sanhuan Community reported discovering various kinds of Falun Gong materials, which were “the same” as those confiscated from Mr. Wang Nanfang’s home. The police concluded that the materials were distributed by Mr. Wang and his nine co-defendants.
The practitioners’ lawyers pointed out that the materials and testimonies submitted by the three witnesses were exactly the same, and they suspected they were fabricated. The lawyers accused the police of framing their clients.
During the third and fourth hearings on March 18-19, 2026, the prosecutor presented Mr. Wang Nanfang’s phone book, which contained a lot of contacts, many of whom were Falun Gong practitioners. Mr. Wang explained that many practitioners and non-practitioners alike contacted him to purchase honey from his family’s beekeeping business. He added that his phone calls with other practitioners were by no means “evidence” of them “forming a criminal organization” as alleged. The prosecutor failed to produce any actual phone conversation records showing any “criminal activities.”
The prosecutor next claimed that the police collected a total of 3,000 copies of Falun Gong materials from the three communities mentioned in the second hearing, as well as six other communities. He repeated his claim that the ten practitioners distributed the materials because they contained the same contents as the materials confiscated from their homes.
The defense lawyers argued that the materials confiscated from the practitioners’ home could only establish they were Falun Gong practitioners, but were not evidence that they distributed the materials found in the said communities.
The practitioners’ family defenders pointed out that no law in China has criminalized Falun Gong nor labeled it as a cult organization. Even if the practitioners did install the satellite dishes or distribute Falun Gong materials, there is nothing illegal about doing so.
Mr. Wang Nanfang, Mr. Zhou, Mr. Wang Zexing, Ms. Hu Mingli, and Ms. Hu Fengju have been detained since their arrests.
Ms. Lai, Mr. Wang Guozhong, Ms. Huang, Mr. Liu, and Ms. Li were released on bail shortly after they were arrested. The first four practitioners were taken back into custody on March 19, 2026, immediately following the fourth court hearing. Ms. Li’s current situation is unclear.
Related Reports:
Four Liaoning Residents Who Had Been Out on Bail Taken Back Into Custody After Fourth Court Hearing
Ten Liaoning Residents Make Back-to-Back Court Appearances In Two Days for Their Faith in Falun Gong
Ten Liaoning Residents Tried for Their Faith in Falun Gong
Arrested on the Same Day, Ten Liaoning Residents Face Trial for Their Faith in Falun Gong
Liaoning Man Seized in a Police Sweep—His Father Dies Two Days After Learning of His Arrest
Qingyuan County, Liaoning Province: Seven Arrested in One Day for Their Shared Faith in Falun Gong
Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Wang Nanfang Abused with Many Torture Methods—Part 2
Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Wang Nanfang Abused with Many Torture Methods—Part 1
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