(Minghui.org) A 66-year-old woman in Gaoyang County, Hebei Province, was tried in mid-2026 for her faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. She requested a jury trial, but no jurors were present at either of her two previous hearings.
Ms. Guo Zhiping was arrested as she left her apartment building on the morning of November 4, 2025. Officers from the Hepingli Police Station in Baoding City (which oversees Gaoyang County) raided her home and confiscated her Falun Gong books, printer, and banknotes with Falun Gong messages printed on them.
The police targeted Ms. Guo after someone reported seeing self-adhesive stickers with Falun Gong messages at a certain location on November 1. They pored over surveillance cameras and saw her at that location. They followed her for two days before making the arrest.
Ms. Guo was taken to the Baoding City Detention Center, which declined to admit her after a required physical exam revealed she had a gastric cyst. She was taken back to the police station, but the police used connections and eventually got her admitted to the detention center.
The Gaoyang County Procuratorate returned the case to the police, citing insufficient evidence. To fabricate more evidence against her, the police intimidated her during interrogation. One officer slammed his hands on a desk and ordered her to admit she’d put up the stickers.
After the police resubmitted the case, the procuratorate indicted her on May 2, 2026.
According to the People’s Juror Law enacted in 2018, cases that meet certain conditions require a jury trial, and a plaintiff can also request a jury trial.
A jury trial can be heard by a three-member or a seven-member collegial panel (which functions like a mixed tribunal and consists of both professional judges and people’s jurors). The rights of jurors on three-member panels are the same as judges when it comes to voting on legal outcomes. Jurors on seven-member panels have fact-finding rights but no voting rights.
Ms. Guo requested a jury trial, but no jurors were present during the first hearing held at the detention center on June 18, 2026. She only saw presiding judge Li Zhiyong and judges Zheng Fei and Chen Hongqiang from the Gaoyang County Court. When her lawyer asked why his client’s request was not honored, Li replied that the current jurors’ five-year term had expired and that the court was still in the process of selecting new jurors.
The lawyer then asked why Ms. Guo’s older sister, in her 80s, was not allowed to attend the trial. Li claimed that was because they did not want to risk the elderly woman having a medical emergency during the trial.
The lawyer and Ms. Guo’s non-lawyer defender never received a copy of her indictment within the legally required time window. Li acknowledged this “procedural issue” and adjourned the session.
A second hearing was held at the detention center on July 9, 2026. The same three judges showed up, but still no jurors. The explanation given was again “new jurors still being selected.”
Ms. Guo’s sister was still barred from attending the trial. Judge Li claimed that was an order from his superiors. Only one other of Ms. Guo’s relatives was allowed at the hearing.
Ms. Guo explained how, even though Falun Gong restored her health, she was repeatedly targeted for her faith. She started to practice Falun Gong on March 3, 1999, and soon recovered from mammary hyperplasia, chest tightness, and gynecological issues. After the communist regime started persecuting Falun Gong four months later, she was arrested many times. She was previously sentenced to one year and three months on December 31, 2020. Her husband died in 2021 while she was incarcerated.
Her lawyer pointed out that no police videos captured his client putting up stickers at the said location. Her being seen at that location in some of the footage should not be admissible evidence. Additionally, the items confiscated from her home did not include any stickers.
The prosecutor accused Ms. Guo of “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” a standard pretext used to frame Falun Gong practitioners. Her lawyer argued that the Falun Gong books confiscated from her home were her lawful possessions because no law in China criminalizes Falun Gong or labels it as a cult.
The lawyer also requested that the informant appear in court to be cross examined. Judge Li responded by ending the session because “there’s not enough time as it’s almost lunchtime.”
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