(Minghui.org) An intermediate court in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province recently reduced a five-year prison sentence against a local Falun Gong practitioner to four years, after she appealed the case.

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

Ms. Li Yu’e, 59, was arrested on October 3, 2019 while going through a security check at a train station. She had planned to visit her ailing father in another city, but security personnel seized her after discovering Falun Gong books, posters and other keepsakes in her bag. 

After a few months of detention at the Shenyang City Detention Center, the Yuhong District Court held a secret hearing in August 2020 without informing Ms. Li's family. She was sentenced to five years.

Ms. Li appealed the verdict with the Shenyang City Intermediate Court. It held a hearing of her case in November 2020 and reduced her term by one year.