(Minghui.org) Five residents of Jieyang City, Guangdong Province, including three family members, were sentenced to prison after a virtual hearing in February 2025.
Ms. Lu Lifang, 67, was sentenced to six years and fined 60,000 yuan. Mr. Wu Yanduo was given five and a half years and fined 50,000 yuan. Ms. Yang Jingxia received 15 months. Ms. Wu Fengyin and Ms. Lu Yuanyuan were each given 13 months. It is unclear when exactly the Jiedong District Court issued the ruling.
Ms. Lu Lifang, Mr. Wu, Ms. Yang, and Ms. Wu were targeted because they practice Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999. Ms. Lu Yuanyuan does not practice Falun Gong, but was also prosecuted because she is the daughter of Ms. Lu Lifang and daughter-in-law of Mr. Wu.
Ms. Lu Lifang was arrested at Mr. Wu Jian’s rice shop on the afternoon of May 30, 2024, by officers from the Chengxi Police Station and the Jiedong District Domestic Security Division. The police raided the shop and the homes of Ms. Wu Jingjuan and Ms. Wu Fengyin, whom Ms. Lu visited right before her trip to the rice shop.
Around 6 p.m. Ms. Lu was taken to her daughter Ms. Lu Yuanyuan’s home. The younger woman owns a two-story building, with the second floor being her family’s living quarters and the first floor her family-owned shop. The police confiscated her computer, printer and other valuables even though she does not practice Falun Gong.
The police intended to arrest Ms. Lu Yuanyuan’s father-in-law Mr. Wu Yanduo, who lives with her family and practices Falun Gong. They relented when he told them that he was still suffering from back pain as a side effect of the COVID-19 shots he got. They arrested his daughter-in-law in his place.
Another local Falun Gong practitioner, Ms. Yang Jingxia, was arrested around 7 p.m. when she went to Ms. Lu Yuanyuan’s shop.
Ms. Wu Jingjuan was interrogated at the Chengxi Police Station while her home was being raided. She was released at midnight. When she came home she noticed the more than 200,000 yuan cash she saved to purchase a home was taken by police.
Mr. Wu Jian was released after several days at the Jiedong Lockup. Ms. Lu Jingfang, Ms. Lu Yuanyuan, Ms. Yang, and Ms. Wu Fengyin remained at the Jiedong Detention Center and were later sentenced to prison.
The police interrogated the teachers of Ms. Lu Yuanyuan’s two children about who visited her. The youngsters were terrified and often had nightmares. Their grandparents, Mr. Wu Yanduo and his wife, were arrested on July 4, 2024. Mr. Wu was taken to the Jiedong Detention Center and his wife was released on bail one day later.