(Minghui.org) Two of the three Luoyang City, Henan Province residents who stood trial in June 2022 have been sentenced to prison for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Ms. Liu Guihua, Ms. Li Xiaoyan and Ms. Zhao Hongjuan were arrested on March 29, 2021. One day before their hearing on June 24, 2022, a judge surnamed Guo from Luolong District Court called Ms. Li’s lawyer and said that he wasn’t allowed to represent Ms. Li anymore. Guo claimed that Ms. Li already had a lawyer and he refused to provide further information.

It’s not clear whether the lawyer referred to by Guo indeed represented Ms. Li during the hearing and whether he or she entered a guilty or not guilty plea for her. None of the practitioners were allowed to read their defense statements during the hearing either.

The judge recently sentenced Ms. Li to 3.5 years and Ms. Liu to 3 years. It’s not clear whether Ms. Zhao was sentenced.

According to an insider, Ms. Li and Ms. Liu, who are still held at the Luoyang City Detention Center, were tortured by the inmates because they refused to renounce Falun Gong.

Ms. Li was previously arrested on June 28, 2013 and sentenced to 7 years by the Laocheng District Court on July 21, 2014.

Ms. Liu was previously held at the Sanmenxia City Detention Center for a year following her arrest on November 15, 2018.