Zhao Junfang (赵俊芳)
Dr. Zhao Junfang (赵俊芳), an internist from Haicheng City, Liaoning Province, was sentenced to three years in prison in October 2025 for practicing Falun Gong — her third prison term for her faith, according to case reports published by Minghui.org. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists her in its three-year-sentence band, confirming she remains in custody serving her term as of that date.
Background
Dr. Zhao, reported to be around 63, took up Falun Gong in 1998. She was detained around March 2001; after an arrest in November 2003 she was sentenced to four years in March 2004. Arrested again in November 2015, she was sentenced to another four years in March 2016 and served time at the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison, where the reports say she was tortured.
The 2025 case
Dr. Zhao was detained on May 28, 2025, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials, and held at the Anshan City First Women’s Detention Center. The Lishan District Procuratorate issued a formal arrest warrant on June 11; she was indicted on August 18 and stood trial at the Lishan District Court on October 21. Judge Wang Yihan sentenced her to three years on October 23. Her family appealed to the Anshan City Intermediate Court. The reports describe serious health problems in custody — severe high blood pressure and bleeding episodes — and say her lawyer’s requests for release on medical grounds were refused.
Status and evidentiary limits
As of August 31, 2026, the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 report lists Dr. Zhao in its three-year-sentence band with an in-custody classification. No release date has been stated in any public source; none is given here. The case narrative rests entirely on Minghui.org; no PRC official document, court judgment, or state-media account is publicly available, and health and torture claims are attributed to the outlet’s family/lawyer sourcing, not independently verified. The reporting contains an unresolved discrepancy over where she served her 2004 term — one report places it at the Liaoning Women’s Prison, another at Dabei Prison in Shenyang — preserved here as reported. This profile does not merge Dr. Zhao with Zhao Jun (赵军) or any other detained person of the same surname — they are different people.
Media Profile & Archive: Zhao Junfang 赵俊芳 — Media Profile & Archive