(Minghui.org) A 63-year-old woman in Deyang City, Sichuan Province, stood trial on June 4, 2026, because she practices Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Jian Yicong, born in May 1963, found her home surrounded by the police around 5 p.m. on March 17, 2026. She jumped out of her second-floor apartment unit and sustained severe injuries.
The police Ms. Jian took her straight to a local detention center. They roughed her up during the process and then realized her injuries were severe. Only then did they take her to the Deyang City Second Hospital, without notifying her family. She was found to have lumbar spine fracture, comminuted fracture of the thigh bone, and her heel was swelling.
Ms. Jian’s lawyer went to the detention center on March 23 and learned she was hospitalized. The guards refused to tell him which hospital she was taken to.
The Jingfa District Domestic Security Office submitted the case to the Jingyang District Procuratorate, which indicted Ms. Jian and forwarded her case to the Jingyang District Court.
The lawyer received a notice on April 9 saying that his client was transferred to the Deyang City Detention Center. He visited Ms. Jian there, and learned that she just ended a 21-day hunger strike after the guards allowed her to meet with him that day.
A court date was set for 3 p.m. on May 26 but was changed to 9:30 a.m. on June 4. Ms. Jian’s lawyer was notified at 4 p.m. on June 3 that the trial would take place at the detention center instead of the courthouse as originally scheduled.
The lawyer questioned the court’s caller as to why the trial was moved to the detention center. The caller said it was not a public hearing. The lawyer said that his client’s case did not belong to the category that required closed-door hearings. The caller replied that they did not want to see Ms. Jian escape in the middle of the court hearing. Her lawyer that she had trouble standing steadily, much less the ability to run away.
Still the trial was held at the detention center on June 4. Ms. Jian’s daughter represented her as a non-lawyer defender. She requested that the prosecutor, the presiding judge, the collegial panel judges, and the clerks be recused if they were members of the Chinese Communist Party and/or its junior organizations. Her reason was that as atheist CCP members, they were not qualified to prosecute her mother for her spiritual belief.
Prosecutor Liu Qin defamed Falun Gong but failed to provide any legal basis to justify her allegations. The presiding judge adjourned the session in two hours.
Ms. Jian took up Falun Gong in October 1998. She makes a living by offering rides on her electric tricycle. Prior to her latest persecution episode, she was repeatedly targeted and served two prison sentences totaling five years. See the related reports for details of her past persecution.
Detained Incommunicado for Practicing Falun Gong, Sichuan Woman Faces Trial
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