Zhou Deyong (周德勇)
Zhou Deyong (周德勇) is a Falun Gong practitioner from Dongying District in Dongying City, Shandong Province, a former senior engineer at the Shengli Oilfield Geological Exploration and Development Research Institute. According to the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (“追查国际”), an advocacy organization, he was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment with a 100,000-yuan fine by the Dongying District Court on April 22, 2023, and he appealed. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists him in its 8-year-sentence band, confirming he remains in custody serving his term as of that date.
The case
On April 23, 2021, police from the Shandong Binhai Public Security Bureau detained Zhou at his home and searched the residence, according to the organization’s May 2021 notice, which states that fellow practitioners He Boqing (贺伯青) and Meng Fanyun (孟繁芸) were seized in the same operation and that all three were held at the Binhai Detention Center. A follow-up notice dated May 28, 2023 states that Zhou was formally arrested on May 31, 2021 by the Dongying District procuratorate; that his family’s lawyer faced obstruction in arranging visits; that family members in the United States sought the attention of US congressional representatives for his case; and that the case was transferred to the Dongying District procuratorate on October 29, 2021.
The same notice states that Zhou was tried at the Dongying District Court on August 25, 2022 — after one year and four months in detention — and again in January and March 2023, and that on April 22, 2023 the court sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment with a fine of 100,000 yuan, a sentence he appealed. The organization characterizes the proceedings as unlawful; no court judgment document has been located and the formal charge wording has not been independently confirmed. The outcome of the appeal is unconfirmed.
Status and evidentiary limits
As of August 31, 2026, the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 report lists Zhou Deyong in its 8-year-sentence band with an in-custody classification, independently corroborating the eight-year term. No release date has been stated in any public source; none is given here. Falun Gong affiliation, the arrest, trial, sentencing, and the appeal all come from 追查国际 — attributed in copy, not stated as independently verified fact. The formal charge wording, the appeal outcome, the sentence-commencement date, and any prison assignment are unconfirmed. This profile must not be merged with He Boqing (贺伯青) or Meng Fanyun (孟繁芸), his co-arrestees — they are different people — or with any other 周德勇 record.
Media Profile & Archive: Zhou Deyong (周德勇) — Media Profile & Archive