Nine Sentenced in Liaoning for Falun Gong, Including a Non-Practitioner Convicted Over Family Ties

Nine residents of Dashiqiao City, Liaoning Province, were sentenced on August 11, 2026, to prison terms ranging from six months to nine years. Eight were sentenced for practicing Falun Gong. The ninth does not practice and was convicted because he is the son of two of the defendants. The heaviest sentence went to a 71-year-old man who by the time of his trial was blind, unable to walk, and had to be wheeled into the courtroom. The case was reported by Minghui.org on August 21, by Weiquanwang on August 23, and by Bitter Winter on August 31.

The sentences

The Zhanqian District Court in Yingkou City tried the nine over two consecutive days, on July 16 and 17, 2026, and issued its judgment on August 11 as criminal verdict (2026) Liao 0802 Xing Chu No. 72. The terms were:

• Mr. Zhang Yuzhen, 71 — nine years, 50,000-yuan fine
• Ms. Gong Suyan, 72, his wife — eight years and six months, 50,000-yuan fine
• Ms. Wang Zhaomin — seven years, 40,000-yuan fine
• Ms. Xing Dongmei — five years, 20,000-yuan fine
• Mr. Wang Jun — two years and six months, 10,000-yuan fine
• Ms. Li Xiuying — two years, 10,000-yuan fine
• Mr. Yang Qiang — one year and six months, 10,000-yuan fine
• Mr. Zhang Bo, son of Mr. Zhang and Ms. Gong — one year and three months, 10,000-yuan fine
• Ms. Xing Chun’e, wife of Mr. Yang and sister of Ms. Xing Dongmei — six months, 5,000-yuan fine

Mr. Zhang Bo does not practice Falun Gong. According to reports, he was convicted solely on the basis of his relationship to his parents. Mr. Zhang Yuzhen’s term is recorded as running until November 24, 2034.

Months of surveillance before sweep

The nine were arrested on November 25, 2025. According to reports, the Dashiqiao City Public Security Bureau had monitored and tracked local practitioners’ mobile phones for roughly six months beforehand. More than twenty officers from the criminal police brigade alone took part in the operation.

Police entered Mr. Zhang Yuzhen and Ms. Gong Suyan’s home in Dongzhi Village, Yong’an Town, and arrested the couple together with their son. Officers reportedly searched both their current and former residences and removed personal property. Ms. Li Xiuying, who was present at the time, was arrested with them. Ms. Wang Zhaomin was arrested at her home in the same town, and Mr. Wang Jun at his home in Qiaotaipu Village. More than twenty officers reportedly entered Ms. Xing Dongmei’s home and removed a large quantity of personal belongings. Mr. Yang Qiang and Ms. Xing Chun’e were arrested at their home in the city proper, which was also searched.

The men were held at the Dashiqiao City Detention Center and the women at the Yingkou City Detention Center. The nine were formally arrested in late December 2025, and their case files were transferred to the Zhanqian District Procuratorate. According to reports, the case was referred upward to the Liaoning Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Committee, which directed it.

Families retained four lawyers, who argued that the facts of the case were unclear, the evidence insufficient, and the law wrongly applied, and asked the procuratorate to correct the errors rather than proceed. The procuratorate declined and indicted all nine.

Three of the defendants had already served forced labor terms in earlier years. Ms. Xing Dongmei was sentenced to two years around 2001 and to a further two years after being arrested on July 23, 2007. Ms. Xing Chun’e was sent to the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp in March 2001 for speaking to others about Falun Gong, and was arrested again on September 16, 2009. Mr. Yang Qiang previously served a forced labor term of unspecified length.

A defendant tried while blind

Mr. Zhang Yuzhen’s health collapsed during his year in pre-trial detention. He developed severe high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke symptoms, and reports describe multiple lacunar infarcts in his brain. On June 23, 2026, his condition deteriorated to the point that police rushed him to Luhe Hospital in Dashiqiao.

He was shackled throughout his hospital stay and guarded by four officers. His family was not permitted to see him. On June 30 he was discharged and returned to the Dashiqiao City Detention Center.

When his lawyer next saw him, Mr. Zhang could not walk and had to crawl. He had lost his sight in both eyes. His speech was slurred and he was extremely thin. His blood pressure was recorded at 170. He could not sit upright in a wheelchair without three guards holding him in place to keep him from falling out.

He was wheeled into the courtroom for his trial in that condition. His lawyer and family repeatedly requested medical bail, both before and after the hearing. The requests were disregarded. He received the longest sentence of the nine.

A conviction for kinship

Two features of this case stand out from the record. The first is the conviction of Mr. Zhang Bo. He is not a practitioner, and reports indicate no conduct was alleged against him beyond being the son of Mr. Zhang and Ms. Gong. His fifteen-month sentence establishes family association alone as a punishable offense.

The second is Mr. Zhang Yuzhen’s condition. He entered detention in November 2025 and by July 2026 was blind, unable to walk, and unable to sit unassisted. A court that saw him wheeled before it nonetheless imposed a nine-year term, and both the court and the prosecution declined every request for medical bail. He is 71. His sentence would run until he is 79.

Falun Gong practitioners in China have repeatedly died in custody after authorities disregarded exactly this kind of deterioration, and elderly practitioners have been imprisoned despite conditions that made incarceration untenable. Mr. Zhang’s family and lawyer have been told nothing about his treatment since the verdict. Given his condition, his age, and the length of his term, there is a real risk he will not survive it.