Name: Yao Jianping (姚建平)
Gender: Female
Age: 55
Address: Xiangtan City, Hunan Province
Occupation: Retiree from Shenzhen City Radio Regulatory Committee
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 24, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Sanjiaoping Detention Center, Xiangtan (湘潭市三角坪看守所)
City: Xiangtan
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: Home ransacked, torture, detention

Name: Hu Yan (胡艳)
Gender: Female
Age: 48
Address: Heping Village, Xiacheng Township, Yuetang District, Xiangtan
Occupation: unknown
Date of Most Recent Arrest: August 24, 2011
Most Recent Place of Detention: Sanjiaoping Detention Center, Xiangtan (湘潭市三角坪看守所)
City: Xiangtan
Province: Hunan
Persecution Suffered: home ransacked, torture, detention

(Minghui.org) On May 10, 2012, a judge at Yuetang District Court in Xiangtan illegally sentenced practitioners Ms. Yao Jianping from Xiangtan to seven years in prison and Ms. Hu Yan to three years. Both women have filed for an appeal. They are currently held at the Sanjiaoping Detention Center.

Officers from Xiangtan City 610 Office, the national security team, the Yuetang Police Department and the Shuyuan Road Police Station in Yuetang ransacked Ms. Hu's home including the rooms in her home that Ms. Yao rented at around 9:00 a.m. on August 24, 2011. Afterwards, they went to Ms. Yao's home, ransacked it and arrested both women. They confiscated Ms. Yao's personal belongings including three computers, one DVD burner, ten printers, five paper cutting machines, four binding machines, one laminator, 12 packs of A4 papers, 440 truth-clarification DVDs, 3,512 flyers, three USBs and one external hard disk.

Ms. Yao was first held at Qilipu Detention Center in Xiangtan County, Xiangtan City. She was later transferred to Sanjiaoping Detention Center in January 2012. Ms. Yao went on a hunger strike for several consecutive months to protest the persecution. Her family has not been allowed to visit her. As a result of the tortures she was subjected to at the detention center, her eyesight has deteriorated and she cannot see clearly. She has also lost a lot of weight.

Since Ms. Yao began practicing Falun Gong, she has worked very hard and never complained about her work assignments. She did not compete with others for personal gain, but was instead tolerant and helpful to others. She is well liked by her managers and colleagues. Her coworkers have witnessed practitioners' high moral standards and understand the truth of Falun Gong and the persecution.

In the current materialistic world, especially under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture, people's morality in China is sliding downward. Since practicing Falun Gong, Ms. Yao has adhered to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When her husband stays out too late, Ms. Yao no longer argued with him like she used to, but instead kindly reminded him to correct his behavior. She supported to her husband's nieces and nephews financially without complaint, sometimes paying for their tuition from elementary school all the way to college. She also allowed them to stay at her home in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province (sometimes for several years) while they looked for a job after graduation.

Whenever she is asked why she is so kind, she answers, “I am a Dafa practitioner. I cultivate Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Falun Gong teaches me to be a selfless person. I must be kind to everyone.” After she retired, she returned to her hometown in Xiangtan. There she helped her classmates who suffered financial problems while being very frugal with herself. For example, for many years now, she continues to wear the few dresses she wore when working in Shenzhen.

Such a kind person has been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment by the CCP and tortured.

Practitioner Ms. Hu Yan started practicing Falun Gong in 1998. Afterwards, her illnesses disappeared, including the bleeding hemorrhoids that had bothered her many years. She had also witnessed some splendid scenes while doing the Falun Gong exercises. After the CCP began its persecution of Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, she stopped practicing due to pressure and fear. But after she calmed down and seriously thought about the issue, she began diligently practicing Falun Gong again.

When the police ransacked her home on August 24, 2011, they confiscated her desktop computer. She was then taken to Sanjiaoping Detention Center.

A closed trial was held for both women at Yuetang District Court on February 15, 2012. The court had notified their family about the trial. However, after the family members arrived at the court on the day of the trial, they were told that the trial had been canceled. Instead, it was changed to be a closed trial inside the Sanjiaoping Detention Center and no one was allowed to sit in. Ms. Hu's daughter, Ms. Wang Wei, who made a “not guilty” plea for her was also not allowed inside the detention center to defend her mother's case. During the closed trial, Ms. Yao sent firm righteous thoughts and rejected the persecution. The trial ended without a conclusion.

Then on May 15, 2012, Yuetang District Court notified the practitioners' family to go pick up the court decision. After seeing the judge's decision on their prison term, Ms. Yao and Ms. Hu said they were wronged and planned to appeal the sentencing.