This archive preserves the documented media and case records concerning Li Jian (李建), a Falun Gong practitioner and China Unicom employee from Fuxin, Liaoning, sentenced in November 2023 to three years and six months in prison in connection with his religious practice. It does not cover the different person with the romanization “Li Jian” — the Guangzhou woman 李健, born 1961 — whose case is documented separately.
Case chronology (as documented by the case reports)
- 1999: Reports state that Li was twice subjected to administrative detention for his Falun Gong practice and then to a two-year labor-camp term beginning in November 1999.
- June 13, 2023: Li places a Falun Gong leaflet on a car door handle; a car owner photographs him and reports him to police, according to the Chinese-language case report.
- July 19, 2023: Police from the Xihe district branch of the Fuxin public security bureau detain Li at his workplace after about a month of surveillance; his home is searched. He is criminally detained, formally arrested, and indicted.
- November 1, 2023: The Fumeng County Court tries the case; Li dismisses the guilty-plea counsel arrangement, mounts his own innocence defense, and is joined by his 84-year-old father speaking for him.
- November 13, 2023: The Fumeng County Court sentences Li to three years and six months under the charge of “using a cult to undermine law enforcement,” with an 8,000-RMB fine. The reported term runs through January 18, 2027.
- November 24, 2023: Practitioner-affiliated outlet Minghui publishes the full case narrative in Chinese (Fuxin origin, Unicom post, 1999 history, June/July 2023 events, trial, sentence, family appeal filed November 15).
- December 12, 2023: The Fuxin City Intermediate Court rejects the appeal without a hearing. A family motion to reconsider is filed January 15, 2024, heard March 5, and denied March 14, 2024; reporting at that time places Li at Panjin Prison.
- May 21, 2024: Minghui’s English edition publishes the appeal-and-reconsideration history, corroborating the anchors of the Chinese-language account.
- August 31, 2026: Listed in custody in the 维权网 Issue 131 monthly roster, “sentenced to 3 years 6 months” group.
Source record
- Minghui news (Chinese edition), November 24, 2023 — “辽宁阜新市法轮功学员李建被枉判三年半 家属上诉”: the full case narrative — Fuxin origin, Unicom post, 1999 persecution history, June 13 leaflet incident, one-month surveillance, July 19 workplace arrest and home search, November 1 trial (self-defense, 84-year-old father), November 13 sentence (3.5 years, 8,000-RMB fine, charge named), family appeal filed November 15. Full report
- Minghui (English edition), May 21, 2024 — “Liaoning Man Jailed After Motion to Reconsider Rejected, Appeal Denied”: independent corroboration of the whole anchor set — ~56 years old, Fuxin Unicom employee, flyer incident, November 13, 2023 3.5-year sentence by the Fumeng County Court, appeal rejected December 12, 2023 without hearing, motion to reconsider filed January 15, 2024 / heard March 5 / denied March 14, sent to Panjin Prison, 85-year-old father as defender. Full report
- Prisoners of Conscience database (human-rights monitoring organization) — individual record for 李建 / Li Jian: male, born 1968; Fuxin City, Liaoning; China Unicom Fuxin branch employee; Falun Gong practitioner; last taken 2023-07-19; charged with “using a cult to undermine law enforcement”; sentenced 3 years 6 months; term to 2027-01-18; prior 1999 detentions and labor camp; workplace arrest with home search; sentenced November 13, 2023 by the Fumeng County Court with 8,000-RMB fine; appealed to the Fuxin Intermediate Court. Public search (query name=李建)
- 维权网 / Chinese-language rights monitoring network — Issue 131 monthly report, August 31, 2026: 李建 listed in the “sentenced to 3 years 6 months” group, reported in custody.
Evidentiary limitations
- The arrest date differs between the two case reports: the Chinese-language report places the workplace arrest on July 19, 2023 (after a month of surveillance following the June 13 incident); the English-language report dates the arrest to June 13, 2023. The Chinese-language timeline is treated as the working one here.
- No official or state-media coverage of the case was found; the detention-to-sentencing narrative reflects the reports’ accounts. Falun Gong is a spiritual practice banned in mainland China since 1999; its treatment as a prohibited organization is the contested basis of the prosecution described above.
- No information post-dating the May 2024 report exists about custody, transfer, or release; the exact detention facility before the Panjin Prison transfer is unstated in the sources reviewed.
- The Guangzhou woman 李健 (born 1961), appearing as a separate same-romanization record in the case database, is not part of this archive and must not be merged with it.
See also
The profile page for Li Jian (李建) gathers his biography, the case narrative, and current status in full.