(Minghui.org) Two Yunfu City, Guangdong Province residents stood trial on November 20, 2020 for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Shen Xuemei, 44, and Ms. Chen Yuanying, 70, were arrested on September 30, 2019 while buying beverages at Kentucky Fried Chicken, after the police somehow discovered Falun Gong related materials on them. A married couple, Mr. Chen Weihuang and Ms. Li Huifang, were arrested together with them but released in the evening.
The police confiscated a few Falun Gong informational cards from Ms. Shen and some banknotes printed with Falun Gong messages from Ms. Chen. Due to strict information censorship in China, many Falun Gong practitioners are using creative ways to spread information about the persecution of their faith, including printing messages on banknotes.
The police also ransacked Ms. Shen and Ms. Chen’s homes and confiscated a few copies of Falun Gong materials and three Falun Gong books from them, respectively.
The police put both practitioners on criminal detention on October 15. Their arrests were approved by the Luoding Procuratorate on November 19. After the Luoding Procuratorate received their cases from the police on January 15, 2020, the prosecutor forwarded them to the Yun’an District Procuratorate on January 20. The Yun’an District Procuratorate indicted the practitioners on May 3 and moved their cases to the Yun’an District Court.
Both practitioners were tried by the Yun’an District Court on November 20. None of their families was allowed to attend the hearing. The practitioners are now awaiting verdicts at the Yunfu City No.1 Detention Center, where they have been held since October last year.
Prior to their latest arrests, Ms. Shen has been detained three times and served nearly two years in a labor camp and Ms. Chen was arrested in July 2003 and served one year and six months in a labor camp.
