(Minghui.org) A total of 29 Falun Gong practitioners in Jiamusi City, Yilan County, and Huachuan County were arrested between August 31 and October 13, 2017. Fourteen of them remain captive and are scheduled to face trial on July 24, 2018.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind-body practice based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. It has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since July 1999. Many Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and jailed for raising awareness of the persecution.

According to insiders, the mass arrest was ordered by the Heilongjiang Province Public Security Bureau and was carried out jointly by police in Jiamusi, Yilan, and Huachuan.

At the time of writing, 14 of the 29 arrested practitioners remain in detention, with the female practitioners held in the Harbin City Detention Center and male practitioners in the Yilan County Detention Center.

Their court date was set for July 24, 2018. Chen Yujie and Zhang Guozhi of the Yilan County Procuratorate are the prosecutors, and Zhang Anke of the Yilan County Court is the presiding judge.

The 14 practitioners are: Shi Fenglan of Huachuan, Song Yuzhi of Jiamusi, Shi Fengxiang, Yao Yulian (also known as Yao Huaiying) and her husband Tang Lifei, Zhou Yan, Xue Hongliang, Piao Baoling, Deng Shumei, Kang Yanling, Xia Guihua, Wu Yuqin and her husband Wang Yunjie, and Song Konghua. Except for the first two practitioners, all the others are residents of Yilan County.

Ms. Shi Fenglan, one of the 14, was at one point released on bail after she became ill, but she was later taken back into custody. The police took her to a police hospital after all of the detention centers in the area declined to take her.

Ms. Pang Xiuxian of Yilan County was also released on bail after she became critically ill following her arrest. The local police and court officials brought a doctor to see her in recent days and noted that she remains mentally disoriented and gravely ill. Only then did they give up their attempt to order her to stand trial.