(Minghui.org) Eight Falun Gong practitioners were sentenced to from three to five years in prison in Changping Court in Beijing on November 13, 2014.

Those sentenced include eight of the nine arrested on May 16, 2013, for removing display boards that defamed Falun Gong in the Ming Tombs area in the Changping District. They were arrested by officers from the Changping Police Department and held in the Changping Detention Center after their arrest.

The police department initially charged the practitioners with “undermining law enforcement” in early 2014. The Beijing Municipal Procuratorate No.1 Branch then issued their arrest warrants on June 22, 2014.

The following prison sentences were handed down by the Beijing Changping Court:

Ms. Feng Xiaoling, 57, sentenced to 5 yearsMr. Jin Yuantao, 41, sentenced to 4 years and 9 monthsMr. Yan Feng, 45, sentenced to 4 years and 6 monthsMs. Lin Fuhua, 46, sentenced to 4 years and 6 monthsMr. Hao Funing, 56, sentenced to 4 years and 3 monthsMs. Zhang Mingxia, 45, sentenced to 4 yearsMs. Zhang Xiuping, 44, sentenced to 4 yearsMr. Zhu Jingsong (Dabao), 38, sentenced to 3 years and 6 months

Repeatedly Detained

Besides their most recent detention after their arrest on May 16, 2013, seven out of the eight sentenced practitioners were held previously in forced labor camps or prisons for a total of 38 years.

Since the onset of the persecution in 1999, these same eight practitioners have been detained for a total of 50 years. In other words, each of these practitioners has been held for at least 6 years each over the past 15 years.

Ms. Feng Xiaoling: sentenced to 8 years in prison in 2001Mr. Jin Yuantao: sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in 2004Mr. Yan Feng: sentenced to 5 years in 2005Ms. Lin Fuhua: held in a forced labor camp for 2 years, beginning the sentence in 2009Mr. Hao Funing: sentenced to 5 years in 2001 and taken to a forced labor camp in 2009, where she was held for 2 years and 6 monthsMs. Zhang Mingxia: sentenced to forced labor in 2006 for 2 yearsMs. Zhang Xiuping: sentenced to forced labor in 2010 for 2 years

Parties Involved in Persecuting Them:

Yang Weidong (杨卫东), presiding judgeHan Yulin (韩玉林), jurorMen Chaohui (门朝慧), juror