Overview
Zhang Xiuzhi (张秀芝) is a Falun Gong practitioner from Nong’an County, Changchun, Jilin Province. Born in 1957, she was detained in a mass arrest on July 15, 2020, and sentenced in July 2021 by the Dehui City Court to 10 years in prison. Her case was one of 12 tried together before the same court; all 12 defendants appealed to the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court. The appeal outcome is not publicly known.
Arrest and detention
On July 15, 2020, police from Nong’an County Public Security Bureau’s domestic-security team and several subordinate stations carried out a large-scale roundup of local Falun Gong practitioners, detaining more than 20 people, according to an investigation notice by the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) and a record in the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) Prisoners of Conscience database. Those detained were held at the Changchun City No. 4 Detention Center and the Nong’an County Detention Center. Twelve of them, including Zhang Xiuzhi, were transferred to the Dehui City Procuratorate and Court for prosecution.
Trial and sentence
The Dehui City Court tried the 12 practitioners in April 2021 and issued verdicts in July 2021, sentencing all 12 and fining them amounts ranging from 5,000 to 20,000 yuan, the WOIPFG notice records. The sentences ranged from 2 to 10 years; Zhang Xiuzhi, then 64, received 10 years. The CHRD record gives her sentence end date as July 14, 2030. All 12 appealed to the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court; no public record of the appeal outcome has been found.
Case context
On October 16, 2021, WOIPFG issued a formal case notice on the persecution of Zhang Xiuzhi, Cai Yuying, and the other 10 practitioners, opening an investigation file that names the political-legal committees, police, procuratorate, and court officials involved. The CHRD database entry (recorded December 31, 2021) lists the charge as unknown and the detention location as unknown. The August 31, 2026 monthly report of the Rights Defense Network (维权网) lists Zhang Xiuzhi among political prisoners and prisoners of conscience it reports as currently in custody, in the 10-year-sentence group.
Sources and documentation
- Chinese Human Rights Defenders, Prisoners of Conscience database — record for 张秀芝 / Zhang Xiulan: female, born 1957, from Nong’an County, Jilin; detained July 15, 2020; sentenced to 10 years in July 2021; sentence to end July 14, 2030. CHRD Prisoners of Conscience database (search by name)
- World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong — “追查吉林省长春市农安县迫害张秀芝、蔡玉英等12名法轮功学员的责任人的通告” (October 16, 2021): case notice documenting the July 15, 2020 mass arrests, the April 2021 trial, and the July 2021 verdicts, including Zhang Xiuzhi’s 10-year sentence, and naming the officials under investigation. WOIPFG case notice
- Rights Defense Network (维权网), Issue 131 monthly report, August 31, 2026 — lists 张秀芝 in the “sentenced to 10 years” (判刑10年) group among political prisoners and prisoners of conscience reported in custody. Issue 131 report
A note on sources: descriptions of the case as “illegal” or “unjust” follow the language of the cited Falun Gong-affiliated and human-rights sources and are attributed to them. The criminal charge, if any was formally entered, is not publicly recorded; the CHRD database lists it as unknown.