(Minghui.org) A 65-year-old woman in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to four years on July 23, 2026, because she practices Falun Gong.
This is the second time that Ms. Yu Chunxiang has been wrongly convicted for her faith. She was previously sentenced to four years in prison following an arrest in April 2018.
Latest Arrest
Ms. Yu was at home around 9:30 a.m. on March 4, 2026, when a group of plainclothes officers from the Xigang District Police Department and the Beijing Street Police Station broke in. They threatened to handcuff her when she refused to cooperate with the home raid. They also asked if her daughter submitted an article to Minghui.org exposing their earlier persecution of her.
Three male and two female officers then took Ms. Yu to the police station for interrogation. They searched her and ordered her to remove her shoes and socks. She refused to comply.
The police accused Ms. Yu of distributing Falun Gong materials. While there is nothing illegal about distributing such materials, she did not do so on the said day. The police took Ms. Yu to the Dalian City Police Department Case Processing Center and later, to the Dalian City Detention Center.
Ms. Yu was found to have high blood pressure and was denied admission to the detention center. The police forced her to take hypertension medications and gave her three bottles of IV drips. She was made to sit on a wooden board in the police department for a whole night before being taken to the detention center again after 8 a.m. on March 5. The detention center admitted her and assigned her to Cell Seven of the Eighth Division.
An officer from the Xigang District Police Department notified Ms. Yu’s daughter on March 5 to pick up her mother’s clothes and shoes. She went but refused to sign her mother’s detention notice. Two officers took the notice back and refused to provide a copy.
Lawyer Denied Visits with Ms. Yu and Barred from Reviewing Her Case File
Prosecutor An Jia from the Xigang District Procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant for Ms. Yu on March 17.
Ms. Yu’s lawyer went to the detention center on March 23 but was told he must have permission from the Xigang District Police Department to meet with his client. The police department refused to reveal who was in charge of the case and barred the lawyer from seeing Ms. Yu.
Prosecutor An forwarded the case to the Ganjingzi District Procuratorate on April 23. Prosecutor Hu Tongjun took over from her. Hu repeatedly rejected the defense lawyer’s request to review the case file and later referred the lawyer to the case management section of the procuratorate. The staff there said the lawyer must produce his certificate of legal professional qualification, his law license, and his law firm’s license before he could be allowed to review the electronic version of the case file.
The lawyer did not have all three required documents with him and asked if he could review the print version of the case file instead. He was told to seek permission from prosecutor Hu, who still said no.
Ms. Yu’s son, who agreed to serve as her family defender, also requested to review the print version of the case file. Prosecutor Hu rejected the request on the grounds that he may “collude with potential witnesses.” He asked to see what policy barred him from reviewing the case file. Hu produced a document allegedly issued by higher-ups and ordered him to sign. He refused to comply and was not allowed to review the case file.
The Xigang District Police Department kept declining the lawyer’s requests to meet with Ms. Yu at the detention center, which registered her as a “classified case” that required police permission for lawyer visits. Her family called the police department numerous times requesting to lift the “classified case” restriction but was rejected each time. In the end, no one in the police department even picked up the phone when the family called again.
Indicted and Sentenced
Ms. Yu was indicted on May 12 and her case was forwarded to the Ganjingzi District Court. Her son went to the court on May 22 to submit his application to serve as her non-lawyer defender. He was asked to submit a certificate of no criminal record and a certificate of unrestricted personal freedom by May 27. His local government service center and police station said they never heard of such a thing as a certificate of unrestricted personal freedom.
Ms. Yu’s son then called judge Duan Li from the police station to inquire about what exactly was a certificate of unrestricted personal freedom. Duan yelled at him, “Get the certificate if you know what it is and forget about it if you have no clue at all!” She then hang up the phone. He called four more times but she didn’t answer.
The officer who overheard the conversation was stunned a judge would behave like that. He commented that he’d have thought it was mafia if he didn’t know she was a judge.
Ms. Yu’s son was finally able to talk to Duan’s clerk, who said it was fine to write the police station’s name on the certificate of no criminal record and have an officer in charge sign it.
Ms. Yu’s son received a notice on June 4 saying his mother was set to stand trial at 10 a.m. on June 10. Details of the hearing are unknown. Ms. Yu was sentenced to four years on July 23.
Related Reports:
Dalian, Liaoning Province: 19 Arrested Around Lantern Festival and "Two Sessions"
Imprisoned Liaoning Woman Denied Family Visits and Pension Benefits
Dalian Intermediate Court Upholds Practitioner's Prison Term for Her Faith Without Due Procedure
Mother Given Four Years for Practicing Falun Gong, Daughter Vouches for Her Character
More than 130 Practitioners from Dalian Detained During Chinese New Year
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