(Minghui.org) Six Zhoukou City, Henan Province residents were recently given prison terms between three and seven years for reading Falun Gong books together.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The six practitioners, including Ms. Tian Mei, Ms. Wang Jing, Ms. Wu Meili, Ms. Li Songmei, Ms. Sun Xiangyang and Ms. Tong Guangling, were reading Falun Gong books at Ms. Liu Shuying’s home on June 18, 2020, when a group of police officers broke in and arrested them. A seventh practitioner, Ms. Zhang Lihua, was also arrested.

It’s reported that the police monitored the practitioners for over a month before arresting them. All of the eight practitioners had their homes ransacked and taken to the Zhoukou City Detention Center. While Ms. Liu and Ms. Zhang were later released, the other six remain in custody.

The Chuanhui District Court held a hearing on January 12, 2021. The presiding judge, Dong Xiaohua, only allowed one family member of each practitioner to attend the hearing.

The judge recently sentenced Ms. Tian to seven years. Ms. Wu and Ms. Wang were each given four and a half years. Ms. Li and Ms. Sun were both sentenced to three and a half years. Ms. Tong received three years.

Chinese version available

Category: Accounts of Persecution