While the movement commemorates 25 years of persecution, a merciless repression continues.
by Yang Feng
While in various parts of the world, including in Washington DC, Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated this month to commemorate 25 years of persecution, China continues its cruel repression of practitioners.
According to the movement’s own statistics, which “Bitter Winter” regards as reliable and confirmed by the high number of cases reported in Chinese media, in the first half of 2024, at least 447 Falun Gong practitioners, located in twenty-seven different provinces and regions, were sentenced by Chinese courts.
The areas where more Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced were: Shandong Province, 78; Liaoning Province, 65; Jilin City, 50; Heilongjiang Province, 35; Hubei Province, 33; Hebei Province, 32; Sichuan Province, 21; Guizhou Province, 15; Beijing City, 14; and Hunan Province, 14. Sixty-two practitioners were older than 60 including one between the ages of 90 and 100, six between the ages of 80 and 90, 27 between the ages of 70 and 80, and 28 between the ages of 60 and 70, with the oldest being 94 years old.
222 Falun Gong practitioners, or 57 percent, were sentenced to more than three years of imprisonment, and 167, or 43 percent, were sentenced to less than three years. Jiao Chuanfu, a Falun Gong practitioner from Jilin Province, was sentenced to 10 years, and Hu Fengjun (female) from Liaoning Province to 11 years.
Eighty-seven Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to fines of more than 10,000 yuan, with the highest fine being 50,000 yuan.
Between January and May 2024, Falun Gong learned of 84 practitioners who died because of the persecution. Deaths may have occurred months and even years before, but news reached Falun Gong in the period January to May 2024.
