Zhou Yuzhen (周玉祯)
Zhou Yuzhen (周玉祯) is a Falun Gong practitioner from Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province, serving a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence imposed around mid-September 2024 for practicing her faith. Minghui.org reported in March 2025 that she is held at the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison. The Rights Defense Network’s (维权网) monthly political-prisoners report (Issue 131, August 31, 2026) lists her in its 4.5-year-sentence band, confirming she remains in custody serving her term as of that date.
The case
Ms. Zhou was arrested on April 30, 2024 by officers of the Bao’an Police Station while distributing Falun Gong information materials. The Guta District Domestic Security Division handled the case, the Linghai City Procuratorate indicted her, and the Linghai City Court — which has been designated to handle Falun Gong cases in the greater Jinzhou area — tried and convicted her, handing down a four-and-a-half-year sentence around mid-September 2024.
While Ms. Zhou was serving her first prison term, the local social security bureau suspended her pension in November 2016. After her release in July 2017 she worked as an aide to support herself. As of March 2025, the pension had not been reinstated.
Earlier targeting
- Ms. Zhou first encountered Falun Gong in 2001, while detained at the Jinzhou City Detention Center over a civil dispute. She began practicing after her release that October.
- May 2004 – January 2006: Detained for about a year and a half at the Masanjia Forced Labor Camp. Minghui.org reports she was strip-searched, force-fed, and repeatedly beaten there.
- January 2014 – July 2017: Arrested on July 23, 2013 with two other practitioners while distributing informational materials; sentenced to four years by the Guta District Court in January 2014. She served the term at the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison.
- April 2019 – April 2023: Arrested in late April 2019 for distributing Falun Gong materials; sentenced to four years in July 2019. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom records her case in its Religious Prisoners of Conscience database, noting reports of torture and a hunger strike during this term.
Status and evidentiary limits
As of August 31, 2026, the Rights Defense Network’s Issue 131 report lists Zhou Yuzhen in its 4.5-year-sentence band with an in-custody classification. No release date has been stated in any public source; none is given here. Accounts of her treatment in detention — including reports that she was beaten, force-fed, and tortured — come from Falun Gong–affiliated reporting (Minghui.org) and independent documentation projects such as Uphold Justice, and are presented here as reported claims. No court judgments or other official records for her cases have been located, and the exact date of her 2024 sentencing has not been established. Nothing in the record establishes her current condition or exact whereabouts beyond the March 2025 report (Liaoning Province Women’s Prison) and the August 2026 roster listing. 周玉祯 must not be conflated with 周玉珍 — different names, not the same person (a standing identity-safety rule; the ZH roster file contains zero occurrences of 周玉珍). A wrong-person search hit, 周玉蔻 (a Taiwan media figure), was excluded.
Media Profile & Archive: Zhou Yuzhen (周玉祯) — Media Profile & Archive