Case Details and Biography of Li Guiwen, a Lisu Christian from Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, Sentenced to 6 Months in Prison

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On May 2, 2026， this website learned of the case details and biography of Li Guiwen, a Lisu Christian from Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, who was sentenced to six months in prison. The information is now reported as follows：

Li Guiwen：Born in the 1990s， he is from Jiangyi Township, Yuanmou County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province， Lisu， occupation unknown， Christian， preacher at a Christian house church in Pingtian Township, Yuanmou County， and a conscience prisoner detained in China。

In his early years， he grew up in Jiangyi Township, Yuanmou County， but because a serious geological disaster occurred in Yunnan Province in 2002， the county and township where he lived were also affected by landslides， with floodwaters carrying mud, sand and rocks， submerging villages and destroying farmland and roads， forcing the entire village to collectively relocate to Pingtian Township; Yunnan Province, where he lived, has been home to many ethnic minorities since ancient times， and more than 100 years ago British missionary James O.Fraser came to Yunnan to conduct missionary work， gradually leading ordinary people in these areas to broadly accept the Christian faith； during this period， Fraser felt a special burden and calling for the Lisu mountain regions， and therefore helped the Lisu people establish their own churches， causing the vast majority of people in this area to become Christians， while also helping them learn to read and study the Bible， and specifically inventing a writing system for the Lisu language（officially recognized and accepted by the Chinese government in 1992）；

The Christian faith and missionary evangelism once brought many positive influences to local lifestyles and social customs， as accepting the Gospel led many people to give up bad habits such as alcoholism， and caused people who had previously engaged in illegal activities to turn to working with their own hands and living lives with personal dignity； thus, to this day， approximately 80% of Lisu people are still Christians； because the villages where he lived were mainly composed of Lisu people， Christians in the villages have long had the custom of gathering for worship together； as a preacher， although his original village collectively relocated to the new area of Pingtian Township in 2002， the villagers maintained the tradition of gathering， and he continued to play an important role in organizing gatherings、pastoring the congregation and providing spiritual companionship； moreover， the locations where believers from his church gathered were usually family homes or private residences， and had never caused any “interference or disruption of social order” to the outside world； however, in recent years， the area where he lived, like other regions across the country, has also faced escalating repression of Christian house churches， and several pastors had previously been arrested and sentenced in Yunnan’s townships and among its ethnic minorities；

On August 2, 2025， he was suddenly criminally detained by police in Yuanmou County, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, on suspicion of “organizing illegal gatherings”； on September 8， he was formally arrested by Yuanmou County police； on October 17, 2025， it was learned that the Yuanmou County police had transferred his case to the local procuratorate for review and prosecution on the same charge； following his arrest， his family appealed and asked believers in churches everywhere to pray for a fair trial in his case。 The Yuanmou County Court in Chuxiong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, sentenced Li Guiwen at first instance to six months in prison for “organizing illegal gatherings” on December 18, 2025， with his sentence running until February 1, 2026. He had previously been detained at the Yuanmou County Detention Center in Yunnan Province.