(Minghui.org) Three women in Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province, were sentenced to prison for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Wang Xia and Ms. Niu Yujie were arrested on March 17, 2020, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong near a residential area. The police interrogated them and ransacked their homes. They also confiscated the women’s banknotes that had information about Falun Gong printed on them and Ms. Wang’s computer, printer, and Falun Gong books.

Due to the strict information censorship in China, many Falun Gong practitioners use creative ways to spread information about their faith, including printing messages on paper currency.

Both practitioners were put in criminal detention and taken to the Shuangyashan Detention Center the following evening. Their arrests were approved on April 21.

The third practitioner, Ms. Qi Hongyu, was arrested on April 3, 2020, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong on the street. The police ordered a locksmith to open her door and raided her place. She was taken to the Shuangyashan City Detention Center that evening.

Ms. Wang and Ms. Niu were tried in the Jinxian County Court on December 17, 2020. Ms. Wang was sentenced to four years with a 30,000-yuan fine. Ms. Niu’s husband paid the judge 80,000 yuan to bribe him and also wrote a statement to renounce Falun Gong on her behalf in exchange for a shorter term. She was given nine months and has been released.

Ms. Wang appealed her verdict to the Shuangyashan City Intermediate Court, which upheld the original sentence without informing her family. Only when she was taken to the Harbin Women’s Prison did the police inform her family and tell them to make a 3,000-yuan deposit for her.

Ms. Qi was also sentenced to four years by the Jixian County Court. Her sentencing date isn’t known.