(Minghui.org) Two Yushu City, Jilin Province residents were sentenced in November 2021 to four years each for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Sun Shuxia, 73, and Ms. Yang Yazhi, 70, were followed by the police on May 25, 2020, when they put up informational materials about Falun Gong on the street. The police also took down the materials they put up as prosecution evidence against them and arrested them when they went out again a few days later. They also ransacked their homes.

Ms. Sun and Ms. Yang were kept in separate rooms in the police station and interrogated for a few hours. As the local lockup refused to accept them due to the pandemic, the police took them home at around 1 a.m.

Both women were arrested again on December 2, 2020, and released on the same day. The day before, the police had harassed Ms. Yang and ordered her to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong.

In the next few months, the police harassed both women a few more times and threatened to take them to the local brainwashing center.

During one harassment of Ms. Yang prior to the Chinese New Year in February 2021, both she and her husband were terrified and fell sick afterward. The police had attempted to take her away but relented due to strong protest from her son.

Both Ms. Yang and Ms. Sun were taken back into custody on April 25, 2021. They were sentenced to four years each by the Dehui City Court in November 2021. They were taken to the Jilin Province Women’s Prison around November 23.

This is the second time that Ms. Sun and Ms. Yang have been sentenced for speaking up for their faith.

They were previously arrested on May 3, 2011, after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. They were kept at the police station overnight and taken to the detention center after a brief interrogation. The authorities blocked their family visits for over three months and didn’t provide any update about their case until they were about to appear in court. They were sentenced to three years each in August 2011.