Shandong Grandmother Secretly Sentenced to Three Years and Imprisoned Just 13 Days After Arrest for Practicing Falun Gong

Ms. Liu Yulian, a 77-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Linqing City, Shandong Province, was arrested on May 12, 2026, and admitted to Shandong Province Women’s Prison in Jinan around May 25—only 13 days later—without her family being informed of any charge, trial, or legal representation. Her case was reported by Minghui.org on June 2 and by Weiquanwang on June 3.

When Ms. Liu’s family asked police about her status, officers would say only that she “had been sentenced to three years,” refusing to provide any further details. The family suspects she was denied due process—a pattern common in Falun Gong cases—and remains unaware of whether she was ever formally charged, appointed a lawyer, or given a trial.

Arrest and secret sentencing

Ms. Liu was on her way to work in the fields on May 12, 2026, when she was seized by Gao Haimin, head of the Linqing City Domestic Security Office, and officers from the Bachalu Police Station. According to reports, the officers parked her tricycle at a local pharmacy—apparently to conceal the arrest—and took her to the Linqing City Detention Center. Her family was later ordered to deliver clothing for her there but was refused any information about her case.

The family confirmed that Ms. Liu was transferred to Shandong Province Women’s Prison in Jinan around May 25, 2026, just 13 days after her arrest. In that interval, the ordinary stages of criminal procedure—investigation, review of prosecution, a court hearing, and any defense by counsel—appear to have been compressed or bypassed entirely, with the family learning of the outcome only through the officers’ brief remark. Her sentence is reported to run until May 11, 2029.

Two decades of persecution

Ms. Liu was born in June 1949 and lived in Panpengdian Village, Bachalu Town, Linqing City. Before taking up Falun Gong, she reportedly suffered from a range of ailments, including a tumor, appendicitis, and chronic headaches. She began practicing in 1998, and her health reportedly improved markedly. Her husband, Mr. Pan Dongsheng, also took up the practice. After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched its campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999, the couple remained firm in their belief and became repeated targets of persecution.

In 2001, Ms. Liu traveled to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. She was arrested, escorted back to Linqing, and held for two weeks in criminal detention. Following her release, local police frequently harassed her, leaving her unable to live normally.

Ms. Liu and Mr. Pan were both arrested in March 2001. A police officer struck Mr. Pan on the head and kicked him to the ground, knocking him unconscious; he was admitted to the Guan County Detention Center before regaining consciousness. Three months later, he was sent to the Wangcun Forced Labor Camp for a three-year term. He developed several medical conditions there, reportedly as a result of torture, and in June 2002 was unable to eat for nine days. Labor camp officials transferred him to Linqing City Hospital and then instructed his family to collect him, as he was unable to afford treatment.

Mr. Pan was arrested again in the fall of 2008 and held at the Linqing City Detention Center for 10 days. When the couple’s two children went to collect him, guards reportedly forced them to hand over the 200 yuan they were carrying.

On May 13, 2022, a village official and four other officers from the Bachalu Police Station entered Ms. Liu’s home and asked whether she was still practicing Falun Gong. When she confirmed that she was, they searched the home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, a photograph of the practice’s founder, two speakers, three paintings, and several calendars. The officers handcuffed her and forced her to walk backwards to the police car. When she maintained that practicing Falun Gong was not a crime, an officer accused her of “having a bad attitude” and tightened the handcuffs until they cut into her wrist. At the police station she began shaking uncontrollably and her blood pressure rose, prompting officers to remove the cuffs. She was released around 7:00 p.m.

Ms. Liu was arrested again on April 1, 2024, while studying the Falun Gong teachings at another practitioner’s home. Police broke in and searched for materials, and when Ms. Liu refused to provide a blood sample, an officer cut off a strand of her hair. The raid continued until the early morning hours, and officers confiscated 1,640 yuan in cash and more than 40 Falun Gong books. Two days later, Ms. Liu was taken to the Tangyuan Town Police Station, where she fainted as police attempted to take her fingerprints. Officers then called her family to take her home. Persistent harassment afterward reportedly forced her to live away from home for months, including through the winter.

On November 13, 2025, officers from the Linqing City Domestic Security Office and the Bachalu Police Station went to Ms. Liu’s home and ordered her to report to the Linqing City Procuratorate to sign case documents. When she refused, they took her there by force, and when she began to tremble, they grasped her hand to press her fingerprint onto the documents. On returning her home, they confiscated four Falun Gong books and a media player she used to follow the exercises.

A pattern of lawless detention

Ms. Liu’s case reflects a documented pattern in which Falun Gong practitioners in China are imprisoned through processes that bypass basic legal safeguards—formal charges, access to counsel, and a genuine trial—and in which elderly practitioners continue to be targeted despite their age. Because the family has been denied all information about her condition and whereabouts within the prison, there are serious concerns for her safety.

Given her advanced age and the abuse she has already endured in custody, she faces a real risk of physical harm or death of the kind repeatedly documented among imprisoned practitioners. As of July 1, Minghui.org has verified 5,359 deaths of Falun Gong practitioners attributable to the ongoing persecution in China.

The forced attempt to draw a blood sample from Ms. Liu during the 2024 raid raises a further concern. A June 2026 report by the Falun Dafa Information Center found that, among surveyed practitioners detained across 20 provinces in China between 1999 and 2024, more than half recounted being subjected to blood tests or unexplained medical examinations while in custody. The report notes that the prevalence of such procedures is consistent with what experts and investigators have described as systematic, large-scale screening for potential forced organ harvesting—an atrocity that independent investigations, including the London-based China Tribunal, have concluded is being committed against Falun Gong practitioners. The lawless and coercive treatment of Ms. Liu—arrest without process, secret sentencing, involuntary biometric and blood collection, and complete denial of information to her family—illustrates the conditions that make these concerns so acute.