Elderly Couple Jailed for Practicing Falun Gong, Husband Dies in Prison 

Wang Ligong, a 76-year-old former researcher from Changchun City, Jilin Province, died in November 2024 while serving a prison term for practicing Falun Gong—a spiritual discipline persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999. His death resulted from a series of violations against legal procedure and medical advice, including ignoring medical assessments deeming him unfit for detention.

In April 2025, Minghui.org reported that on May 18, 2023, plainclothes police arrested Wang and his 74-year-old wife, Gong Shuying, outside their home. Without presenting a warrant, officers raided their apartment, confiscating Falun Gong books, electronics, and information materials. The couple was taken to the Nanhu Police Station and forced to undergo physical exams at two hospitals. Both hospitals found them to be in poor health and explicitly stated they were unfit for detention.

Despite this, authorities sent Ms. Gong to Changchun City Detention Center. Wang was released on bail after being forced to pay 5,000 yuan in fees without getting any receipts. He later learned that his wife’s case had been quickly handed over to prosecutors.

Determined to defend his wife, Wang hired a lawyer. However, the detention center blocked the lawyer’s access, citing a nonexistent legal requirement allegedly issued by the Changchun City Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extra-judicial agency of the Chinese Communist Party tasked with overseeing the persecution of Falun Gong. Appeals to the local procuratorate and even the mayor’s hotline failed to reverse the denial of legal representation.

Then on August 26, 2023, Wang was rearrested at his home and both he and his wife were sentenced to prison in undisclosed proceedings. Wang was sent to Gongzhuling Prison, where his health rapidly declined. Despite medical warnings, he was not released. He died in the prison hospital following a brain hemorrhage, according to Minghui.org and Weiquanwang, a website which aggregates reports of abuse from human rights defenders across China.

Wang’s death underscores ongoing human rights concerns in China, particularly the systematic persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and the disregard for medical and legal safeguards, especially for the elderly and infirm.