Classification: Falun Gong practitioner; prisoner of conscience; sentenced to three years and six months for her faith. She was sentenced by the Yungang District Court in Datong City, Shanxi Province, on June 17, 2026, following a trial from which her lawyer and family were barred.
Background
Chen Zhongli (陈忠丽) is an elderly mother and veteran advocate from Datong City in Shanxi Province, in northern China. She is a Falun Gong practitioner. According to the Falun Dafa Information Center, she used her own experiences to advocate for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong, filed a criminal complaint against former Chinese Communist Party head Jiang Zemin over the persecution, and was detained in 2016 for distributing flyers exposing the persecution. Family and friends describe her as calm, principled, and deeply caring; she lives with pre-existing heart conditions.
Detention in September 2025
On September 5, 2025, plainclothes officers from the Gucheng Police Station in Pingcheng District arrived at her home in Datong, forced entry with a locksmith, and detained her; doorbell-camera footage obtained by her family captured the officers surrounding her moments before the break-in. Officers searched and ransacked her home, seizing a portrait of Falun Gong’s founder, a wall hanging embroidered with the words “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance,” more than 100 Falun Gong books, a portable audio player, and banknotes printed with Falun Gong information, according to the family’s account. The family’s account is that officers told them she had been reported by a neighbor for “posting adhesive stickers” in the stairwell, which the family believes was a pretext.
Formal arrest, detention conditions, and indictment
On September 23, 2025, the Pingcheng District Procuratorate approved her formal arrest. She was held at the Chenzhuang Detention Center (陈庄看守所) in Datong. The Falun Dafa Information Center reports that, in her first week in custody, a guard instructed two detainees to beat her after she refused to watch propaganda; the family also reports intimidation during detention, including a guard threatening her after legal visits, the withholding of basic necessities, and money deposited by the family on September 11 that she was not permitted to use. These accounts of mistreatment are attributed to the family and the Information Center, not independently confirmed. On December 1, 2025, her case was transferred to the Yungang District Procuratorate, and on December 26, 2025, prosecutor He Feng indicted her, moving the case to the Yungang District Court, according to Minghui.
Secret trial and three-and-a-half-year sentence
Minghui reports that Chen Zhongli was tried by the Yungang District Court on May 28 and June 16, 2026, with her lawyer and family members barred from entering the courtroom during both hearings. The judge sentenced her to three years and six months in prison on June 17, 2026. 维权网’s August 31, 2026 monthly report (Issue 131) lists Chen Zhongli among the prisoners of conscience in custody, in the “sentenced to 3 years and 6 months” group — consistent with the sentence reported by Minghui. No PRC official court record or state-media report on the trial has been located; the sentence details are attributed to Minghui.
Status and evidentiary limits
Chen Zhongli is classified as a current prisoner. The prison facility in which she is serving her sentence has not been reported beyond her detention-center custody documented through late 2025; no facility beyond the Chenzhuang Detention Center is named in the sources located. Exact health status after sentencing is unconfirmed. No facts are inferred beyond the sources cited; in particular, no official court judgment has been reviewed.
Media Profile & Archive: Chen Zhongli 陈忠丽 — Media Profile & Archive