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Liberty
Case Details and Biography of Mr. Wang Yujie, a 63-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner from Shenyang Sentenced to One Year in Prison
The Rights Defense Network Information Center reported that Wang Yujie, a 63-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Shenyang, Liaoning Province, was arrested on January 6, 2026, and had his home searched. The Hunnan District Court heard his case on August 4 and sentenced him to one year in prison on August 18. His sentence runs until January 6, 2027, and he is detained at the Heping District Detention Center.Ms. Cao Ping, a Falun Gong practitioner from Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, sentenced to 8 years, persecuted to death in Shaanxi Women's Prison
A Rights Defense Network Information Center report said Cao Ping, a 74-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, died in Shaanxi Women’s Prison in April 2026 while serving an eight-year sentence. Arrested in September 2022, she was sentenced by Xunyang Court in October 2023 and transferred to prison in April 2024. Her lawyer’s medical-parole applications were rejected.Case Details and Biography of Ms. Zou Hualan, a 75-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner from Fengcheng Subdistrict, Changshou District, Chongqing, Sentenced to 2 Years and 3 Months
The Rights Defense Network Information Center reported on September 5, 2026, that Zou Hualan, a 75-year-old Falun Gong practitioner and retired employee from Chongqing’s Changshou District Agricultural Machinery Company, was sentenced by the Liangjiang New Area Court to two years and three months on August 18. Police detained her on March 6, 2026; her sentence is scheduled to end on June 5, 2028.Case Details and Profile of 84-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner Tian Shulin from Jinan, Shandong, Sentenced to 1 Year and 6 Months
According to the Rights Defense Network Information Center, Tian Shulin, an 84-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Jinan’s Shizhong District, was arrested on September 29, 2025, by Jinan public security authorities and Changqing District police. Initially detained in Jinan’s No. 3 Detention Center and later Zhangqiu District Detention Center, he was sentenced by Zhangqiu District Court to 1 year and 6 months. He was transferred to a Shandong prison on July 22, 2026.Feng Zhenghu: An Analysis of the Application for Supervision of Administrative Litigation by Farmers Who Lost Their Land in Xinzhuang, Shanghai (Series Report Seven on Land-Lost Farmers’ Legal Rights Protection in China)
An application for procuratorial supervision by 41 farmers from Shanghai’s Xinzhuang Industrial Zone concerns alleged failures to protect property rights during land expropriation and demolition from 1995 to 2001, with claimed losses of approximately 194 million yuan. After applications in 2021, administrative reconsideration and court proceedings did not examine the substance. The applicants argue that the case raises issues involving the 2024 Administrative Reconsideration Law, distinguishing duty-performance applications from petitions, and judicial interpretation.The Case and Biography of Ms. Yan Ling, a 79-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner from Nantong, Jiangsu, Sentenced to Three Years
Yan Ling, a 79-year-old Falun Gong practitioner from Tongzhou District, Nantong, Jiangsu, was arrested on August 27, 2025, by police from the Tongzhou Domestic Security Brigade and detained in Nantong Detention Center. In September 2026, it was reported that she had been sentenced to three years and transferred to Nanjing Women’s Prison. Her sentence runs through August 26, 2028.Case Details and Biography of Ms. Pan Xiuhua, a Falun Gong Practitioner from Urumqi Sentenced to Three Years
A September 4, 2026, Rights Defense Network Information Center report detailed the case of Pan Xiuhua, a Falun Gong practitioner from Urumqi, Xinjiang, born in 1954. It said Pan had faced repeated persecution, including detention, reeducation through labor, brainwashing classes and more than a decade in prison. After being reported while speaking publicly about Falun Gong, she was arrested with Luo Chuanmei, prosecuted and sentenced to three years. Her sentence runs until March 2028.Gao Pu: Please Ask the International Community to Pay Attention to and Support My Father—Pastor Gao Quanfu of Light of Zion Church—and My Mother, Pang Yu
Gao Pu appeals for international support for his parents, Pastor Gao Quanfu and Pang Yu, who were detained in Xi’an in May and June 2025. Gao faces a fraud charge and potentially 12 to 13 years in prison for accepting voluntary offerings from congregants; Pang was detained because she is his wife. Gao says both are elderly, ill, held in overcrowded conditions, denied family contact and inadequately treated medically.Case Details and Biography of Ms. Jian Yicong, a Falun Gong Practitioner from Deyang, Sichuan, Sentenced to 4 Years and 6 Months
A Rights Defense Network Information Center report says Jian Yicong, a Falun Gong practitioner from Deyang, Sichuan, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison and fined 15,000 yuan. Police surrounded her home on March 17, 2026; she was seriously injured after jumping from the second floor and was later transferred to detention. The Jingyang District Court held her trial on June 4 and issued the sentence on August 19.Zhejiang human rights defender Chen Shuqing receives written response only nearly four months after filing lawsuit over pension rights
Chen Shuqing’s administrative lawsuit against the Hangzhou Gongshu District Human Resources and Social Security Bureau and the Hangzhou Gongshu District People’s Government concerns his pension eligibility and contribution period. After submitting a complaint on May 12, 2026, and making repeated inquiries and revisions, the Gongshu District People’s Court accepted the case for pre-litigation mediation on July 29. Chen received the court’s written response and defendants’ submissions on September 2.Hunan Zhuzhou self-media writer Yin Jiangen, sentenced to 2 years and 3 months at first instance, appeals the verdict in accordance with the law; second-instance hearing to be held publicly at 9 a.m. on September 10 in Courtroom 2 of He County Court
Hunan self-media writer Yin Jiangen was sentenced by Anhui’s He County Court on August 6, 2026, to two years and three months for allegedly “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” The charges concern more than 450 WeChat articles criticizing local officials and institutions. Detained since August 2025, Yin appealed. His second-instance hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on September 10, 2026, at He County Court.Feng Zhenghu: Comprehensive Legal Analysis Report on the Case of Xinzhuang Landless Farmers’ Application to Perform Statutory Duties — Breaking the “Procedural Motions” and “Endless Cycle of Remedies” (Series Report Six on Landless Farmers’ Lawful Rights Protection in China)
A report by Feng Zhenghu examines a case involving 41 landless farmers in Shanghai’s Xinzhuang Industrial Zone, who claim losses of about RMB 194 million after property was allegedly occupied or uncompensated during redevelopment. After the Minhang District government failed to respond to their 2021 application to perform statutory duties, reconsideration and court proceedings were rejected as petitioning matters. The report proposes procuratorial supervision, compensation litigation and legislative oversight.Hong Kong prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong charged under the Hong Kong National Security Law with “conspiracy to collude with a foreign country or external forces to endanger national security”; trial opens today
On September 2, 2026, Joshua Wong pleaded guilty in a Hong Kong court to conspiring to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security under the National Security Law. Sentencing was deferred. Wong is currently serving a four-year, eight-month sentence from the 47-person subversion case and has been detained for more than 2,100 days, including other cases.Famous human rights defender Zhang Zhan, sentenced to four years, spends her 43rd birthday in prison
The report states that Zhang Zhan spent her 42nd birthday, September 2, 2026, in prison. Released on May 13, 2024, after serving a four-year sentence for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” she was arrested in Gansu on August 28, 2024, after supporting Zhang Pan’cheng’s family. Sentenced again to four years on September 19, 2025, she is being held at Shanghai Women’s Prison until August 28, 2028.Case Details and Biography of Jia Xuewei, Arrested Deputy Deacon of Sichuan Early Rain Covenant Church
Jia Xuewei, born in 1975 in Henan Province, is a former China News Service reporter, writer and current deputy deacon and preacher at Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church. He was detained for 15 days in December 2023 and criminally detained after a Bible study raid on October 6, 2025. Arrested again on January 6, 2026, he was held in Deyang and formally arrested on August 27 on suspicion of organizing illegal gatherings.Case Details and Biography of Ms. Zhou Shuhua, a 74-Year-Old Falun Gong Practitioner from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison
According to a Rights Defense Network Information Center report, Zhou Shuhua, a Falun Gong practitioner from Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province, was arrested on September 12, 2023, for distributing Falun Gong materials. The Jianhua District Court sentenced her in October 2025 to two years in prison and fined her 5,000 yuan. Despite severe high blood pressure, she was sent to Harbin Women’s Prison in June 2026 and is held in its hospital.China Human Rights Defenders: Interpretation of China's Policies, Laws and Regulations (August 2026) (Issue 24)
The article reviews a series of newly introduced measures covering social governance, livelihoods and rights protection. They include a one-year campaign against organized crime beginning in July 2026, action against matchmaking abuses, abolition of cuisine-industry titles, cleanup of clan-organization branches, noise penalties, agricultural irrigation safeguards, new exit-and-entry provisions, housing provident fund revisions and a second review of the Lawyers Law draft. It emphasizes implementation challenges.Rights Defense Commentary: Second Review of the Lawyers Law: If Lawyers’ Own Human Rights Cannot Be Protected, How Can We Talk About the Rights of Litigants?
Guest commentator Mu Jiangshan argues that the second-reviewed draft amendment to the Lawyers Law offers mainly principles and slogans while failing to address local authorities’ interference, weak complaint and accountability mechanisms, and professional retaliation against lawyers in sensitive cases. The article also criticizes formalistic criminal defense and insufficiently distributed legal-service resources, warning that without independent protection for lawyers, litigants’ rights and judicial fairness remain largely theoretical.Fujian human rights defender Xiang Jinfeng, sentenced to 4 years, released after completing his sentence on August 28, 2026
Fujian human rights defender Xiang Jinfeng was released from Yong’an Prison on August 28, 2026, after completing a four-year sentence. He was criminally detained on August 29, 2022, and sentenced before the 2024 Spring Festival on unspecified charges, possibly related to online statements. Xiang had previously faced questioning, travel restrictions, and passport confiscation over his rights advocacy and political discussions.China Rights Defense Network: Monthly Report on Political Prisoners and Prisoners of Conscience in Mainland China (August 31, 2026), Issue 131 (1,638 people in total)
The Rights Defense Network Information Center released its 131st monthly report on August 31, 2026, stating that 40 people on the previous roster had completed their sentences and been released, 30 had new developments while in prison, six had been newly criminally detained or forcibly disappeared, 28 had been newly sentenced, and one had died in prison; the report lists a total of 1,638 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in custody.Case Details and Biography of Sun Chao, Christian Church Preacher in Qujing, Yunnan, Criminally Detained
Sun Chao, a Christian preacher at Philadelphia Church in Qujing, Yunnan, was transferred to criminal detention on August 7, 2026, after completing a 12-day administrative detention for preaching the Gospel. Authorities reportedly cited suspected “illegal organization of gatherings.” Sun, who has epilepsy and requires regular medication, is detained at Xuanwei City Detention Center. His wife, Zhao Ying, has appealed for attention to his health and rights.Li Qiaochu: Update on Xu Zhiyong’s Situation in Prison (August 29, 2026)
The writer received a letter from Xu Zhiyong dated August 21, 2026, saying his outdoor time had improved to 10 a.m. daily for 30 minutes. Correspondence had also become smoother than during the previous two months. The writer considers the matter closed for now but plans to continue asking about Xu’s basic living conditions. Xu reportedly liked hand-drawn pictures sent with a letter in late July.Chow Hang-tung: Statement of Plea
The author rejects a 206-page judgment that, they argue, treats belief in ending one-party dictatorship as unconstitutional and criminal. They say law cannot control thoughts, condemn obedience to authoritarian power, and describe ending one-party dictatorship as a responsibility of Hong Kong and Chinese people. The author refuses to apologize for these beliefs, accepts possible imprisonment, and vows to continue pursuing democracy, accountability for the 1989 massacre and a democratic Hong Kong and China.Kunming Shijixincheng Christian Church Case to Hold Pretrial Conference on September 2, 2026, Trial to Begin on September 16
The Kunming Shijixincheng Christian Church case will hold a pretrial conference on September 2, 2026, with trial scheduled to begin September 16. Authorities raided a church gathering on April 12, taking preacher Yu Shaolin, Li Qun and Luo Ping into custody. The three were formally arrested on May 20 on suspicion of “organizing an illegal gathering” and are held at Guandu District Detention Center.Zion Church’s Open Prayer Letter Urging the Beihai Yinhai District Court to Immediately Release Wang Zhong and Wu Qiuyu
Zion Church said the Beihai Yinhai District Procuratorate indicted its “10·9” case on July 17, 2026, but a planned August pretrial conference and trial were postponed after lawyers protested. Eight pastors and co-workers remain detained on fraud and/or illegal business operations charges. The church said Wang Zhong’s bail requests were denied despite severe heart disease and his father’s death, while Wu Qiuyu remains separated from her two young children.
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