(Minghui.org) Ms. Wei Lanying, 71, and Ms. Ji Huiying, 67, are Falun Gong practitioners from Shouguang City, Shandong Province. Ms. Wei was sentenced to two years in prison and Ms. Ji to three years by the Changle County Court on September 15, 2017.

Both women appealed their sentences. On December 5, 2017, Weifang Intermediate Court rejected Ms. Wei's appeal and upheld the lower court's two-year sentence.

Ms. Wei and Ms. Ji were arrested by officers from the Changle Development District Police Station when they went to a farmers' market in Changle County, Weifang City, on March 31, 2017. The police went to Ms. Wei's home and ransacked it the same afternoon.

Ms. Wei and Ms. Ji tried to tell the officers the facts about the persecution of Falun Gong, but they refused to listen and took both ladies to the Weifang Detention Center. The detention center, however, refused to take them because they had high blood pressure.

The next day the officers took the women to the Lechang County Bank and ordered them to withdraw 2,000 yuan each. The funds were extorted from them for “bail pending trial.” On the way to the bank, one of the police officers threatened, “We will have your organs extracted if you don't do what we say.”

Their cases were turned over to the Lechang County Procuratorate in early June, and they were sentenced in September. Ms. Wei's appeal was recently rejected. Ms. Ji's appeal is still pending.