Zhao Shuzhi (肇淑芝)
Zhao Shuzhi (肇淑芝) is a female Falun Gong practitioner from Inner Mongolia, reported to be serving a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Her surname is written with the uncommon character 肇, distinct from the common surname 赵 — the common-surname spelling 赵淑芝 does not refer to this person. According to Minghui.org, she was arrested on June 3, 2024 in Arun Banner, held at the Arun Banner Detention Center, and later sentenced to two and a half years; she has begun serving the term at the Hohhot Women’s Prison. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists her in its 2-year-6-month-sentence band, confirming she remains in custody serving her term as of that date.
The case
According to Minghui.org’s February 10, 2025 report, Zhao — described as a 67-year-old woman — was arrested on June 3, 2024 and held at the Arun Banner Detention Center before being sentenced to two and a half years; she has begun serving the term at the Hohhot Women’s Prison. The report says police harassed her on May 14, 2024 after a bakery reported her for ordering a cake inscribed “Falun Dafa is good” ahead of World Falun Dafa Day.
The August 31, 2026 Issue 131 monthly report of the Rights Defense Network (维权网) lists Zhao Shuzhi among 30 people serving a two-year-six-month sentence. The report’s Chinese edition places 肇淑芝 in the matching position of the same group — the basis for the Chinese-character identification — and independently corroborates the current term. The report classifies its entries as political prisoners and prisoners of conscience currently in custody.
Earlier targeting
Minghui.org’s reports trace a history of repeated detention going back to 1999. The February 2025 report says the June 2024 arrest was her tenth encounter with detention since 1999: she had been arrested nine times between July 1999 and April 2020, serving three labor-camp terms and two prison terms; her husband divorced her in 2012, and her pension was suspended while she served her second prison term (April 2020 to March 2023) at the Hohhot First Women’s Prison.
A July 3, 2021 report describes her ninth arrest, on April 9, 2020, at a bus station in Hulunbeir City with fellow practitioner Ren Xiaomei. The Zalantun City Court tried both women by video conference on October 30, 2020; the report says the judge sentenced Zhao to three years in December 2020 with a 20,000-yuan fine, and she was taken to the Hohhot No. 1 Women’s Prison. A 2014 Minghui.org record traces her case further back: a practitioner from Moqi (Molidawa Daur Autonomous Banner), Inner Mongolia, arrested repeatedly from 2000 onward and sentenced to four years in December 2005 by the Moqi court, released in January 2009. The 2014 account includes torture accounts that remain the outlet’s reporting and stay attributed.
Status and evidentiary limits
As of August 31, 2026, the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 report lists Zhao Shuzhi in its 2-year-6-month-sentence band with an in-custody classification. No release date has been stated in any public source; none is given here. Source attribution: the case details above come from Minghui.org’s reports of February 10, 2025, July 3, 2021, and April 18, 2014; the in-custody classification and current-term corroboration come from 维权网’s Issue 131 report (August 31, 2026), consulted in both its Chinese and English editions. Limitations: no court judgment document for the current sentence has been located; the formal charge wording has not been independently confirmed; the exact sentencing court and date for the 2.5-year term are unknown; the outlets’ legal characterizations are their own; status beyond August 31, 2026 is unverified. Do-not-merge: her name is 肇淑芝 — the surname is the uncommon 肇, not the common 赵; the ZH file of the Issue 131 report contains 0 occurrences of 赵淑芝, and that spelling must never be used for this person. Do not merge with any other “Zhao Shuzhi” record lacking the Inner Mongolia / Hulunbuir / Moqi / repeated-detention anchors — no second prisoner record under this name was found.
Media Profile & Archive: 肇淑芝 — Media Profile & Archive