(Minghui.org) Two residents of Xingcheng City, Liaoning Province, were sentenced to prison for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Tan Yumei was given one year and is now serving time at the Liaoning Province Second Women’s Prison. Her relative, Mr. Hu Yongli, was given two years and is now in Panjin Prison in Liaoning Province.

Ms. Tan was arrested on April 4, 2023, while going through a security check at the Shenyang North Railway Station. She had visited relatives in Shenyang (the capital of Liaoning Province) and was on her way home. The railway police seized her when they found Falun Gong materials in her luggage. They traveled more than 150 miles to Xingcheng that same day to raid her home.

Two days later, the Shenyang police notified their counterparts at the Ningyuan Police Station in Xingcheng City to arrest Mr. Hu and put him at the Xingcheng City Detention Center.

Ms. Tan’s husband and several officers from the Gucheng Police Station in Xingcheng City picked her up from Shenyang on April 14, 2023. She was taken straight to the Huludao City Detention Center. Huludao oversees Xingcheng.

The Shenyang police reported the joint case against Ms. Tan and Mr. Hu to higher-ups at the provincial level, who then ordered the Ningyuan Police Station to take over and report directly to them. While both Ms. Tan and Mr. Hu are Falun Gong practitioners, it is unclear why they were targeted together.

The Ningyuan Police Station submitted the case to the Lianshan District Procuratorate in Huludao City, which has been designated to handle all Falun Gong cases in Huludao and all the cities and counties under its jurisdiction. Prosecutor Liu Zhongxin forwarded the case to the Lianshan District Court on July 19, 2023.

While the case was pending, Mr. Hu’s family submitted a request to drop his case. They also filed complaints against chief Ma Yuefeng of the Ningyuan Police Station, prosecutor Liu Xin at the Xingcheng City Procuratorate, and prosecutor Liu Zhongxin at the Lianshan District Procuratorate through various channels, including 12389 (the hotline for the police ministry) and 12388 (the hotline for discipline inspection and supervision).

It remains to be investigated when Mr. Hu and Ms. Tan were tried and sentenced.