(Minghui.org) Five Liaocheng City, Shandong Province residents were sentenced to prison for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The Dong’e Court announced the verdicts on July 27, 2021. Ms. Guo Xiuping, around 70, was sentenced to two years and ten months. Ms. Hua Liqin and Ms. Li Guihua, around 75, were both sentenced to two years and three months. Ms. Sun Chune was given ten months and Ms. Chen Jun received eight months.

Ms. Li, Ms. Sun and Ms. Chen were studying Falun Gong’s teachings at Ms. Hua’s home on October 16, 2020 when police broke in and arrested them. Ms. Guo was arrested the next day. The police ransacked all five practitioners’ homes and confiscated their Falun Gong books, related materials and other personal belongings.

The police collected fingerprints from all the practitioners and ordered each one of them to pay 10,000 yuan bail bond. By the evening of October 17, all of them had been released on bail. The police ordered them to keep their cellphones on so as to respond to police orders at any time.

The police ransacked Ms. Chen’s home again on November 11. She was taken to the police station in the afternoon, had her photo taken and released in the evening.

The police called the practitioners on January 12, 2021 and asked them to come to the police station on the next day to take back their bail bond. When Ms. Sun, Ms. Li and Ms. Guo went there, they were arrested and taken to the Chiping District Detention Center. Their families were asked to come to the police station to pick up their personal belongings and detention notice on the next day.

A week later, on January 20, Ms. Chen was arrested and taken to the detention center. It’s not clear when Ms. Hua was taken back into custody.

Related report:

Four Shandong Residents Face Prosecution for Their Faith