(Minghui.org) Four Chicheng County, Hebei Province residents were sentenced to prison on June 30, 2021, for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Zhang Yumei was sentenced to 5 years with a 20,000-yuan fine. Mr. Liu Jun and Ms. Chen Fengqing were both given 4.5 years with a 15,000-yuan fine. Ms. Cao was sentenced to 3.5 years with a 10,000-yuan fine. All of them are appealing their verdicts.

The four practitioners and a fifth practitioner, Ms. Xu Yanfei, went to a nearby village to distribute informational materials about Falun Gong on the evening of February 13, 2020. They were reported and arrested together with the driver, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong.

The police ransacked every person’s home on the next day and confiscated their computers, printers and Falun Gong related materials. They were taken to the Chicheng County Police Department in the evening and put under criminal detention on the next day. Mr. Liu and the driver were taken to the Chicheng County Detention Center, while the other four female practitioners were transferred to the Zhangjiakou City Detention Center. Due to medical conditions, Ms. Xu and Ms. Cao were denied admission and released on bail on the same day.

Both Ms. Xu and the driver were later cleared of prosecution, but the police pursued prosecution of the other four practitioners. After the police submitted their case to the Xuanhua County Procuratorate, the prosecutor returned it twice, citing insufficient evidence. When the police submitted their case for the third time on October 28, the prosecutor accepted the case and indicted the practitioners,.

Mr. Liu, Ms. Zhang, Ms. Chen and Ms. Cao appeared in the Xuanhua County Court on December 15, 2020. Five months later, on May 20, 2021, Ms. Cao was taken back into custody at the Zhangjiakou City Detention Center. The judge announced their verdicts on June 30.

Perpetrators’ contact information:
Wang Yongfeng (王永峰), presiding judge of Xuanhua County Court: +86-17703138505Zhang Yuewu (张跃武), judge: +86-17703138633Cheng Xing (程兴), prosecutor of Xuanhua District Procuratorate: +86-313-7966665Yang Yuwei (杨玉薇), prosecutor of Xuanhua District Procuratorate: +86-313-7966630Ma Jingsong (马劲松), head of Chicheng County Police Department: +86-13903142225

(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)