(Minghui.org) Elementary school teacher Ms. Li Yangbo began to practice Falun Gong in 2005 when she was 32 years old. She was amazed to experience a dramatic health turnaround from severe aplastic anaemia in just 20 days. She and her 72-year-old mother, who recommended the practice to her, however, were arrested and sentenced to prison for refusing to renounce their faith.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body practice persecuted by the communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Li and her mother, Ms. Yang Xiuyun, residents of Baicheng City, Jilin Province, were arrested on October 10, 2017. Their shared residence was turned upside down during the police raid, and all of their valuables and Falun Gong related materials were confiscated.
Both women were later released on bail for medical conditions, including Ms. Yang's high blood pressure of 260/140 mm Hg.
After one local procuratorate refused to take the case against Ms. Li and her mother, the police submitted their case to another procuratorate, which eventually accepted it and forwarded it to the court.
Judge Sun Shouhang from Da'an City Court held a hearing against the two women at their home on June 11, 2018. He issued the verdicts one month later, on July 17, sentencing both women to two years in prison, with 5,000 yuan fine each.
Ms. Yang and Ms. Li appealed their cases to the Baicheng City Intermediate Court on July 22. The original verdicts were upheld following a hearing on September 22.
As Mr. Li continued working while on bail during the prosecution process, the Da'an City Court delivered the intermediate court's ruling to Ms. Li's workplace, the Tielu First Elementary School, on November 17. The school terminated her employment contract immediately upon receiving the verdict.
It is not clear whether the mother and daughter have begun to serve time in prison at the time of writing.
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