(Minghui.org) Four Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province residents were arrested in February 2021 for reading Falun Gong teachings together and all of them were later sentenced to prison. Two of them have been released after serving their terms but the situation for the other two remains unclear.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Liu Yonghong, 72, Ms. Lei Meirong, Ms. Xu Guizhen and Ms. Lu Linxiang were studying Falun Gong teachings at a private residence at around 3 p.m. on February 8, 2021, when officers of the Luojia Town Police Station broke in and arrested them. All of their homes were subsequently ransacked.
Another three practitioners, Ms. Zhang Liyu, Ms. Zhang Xiaoyun and Mr. Zhao Zhongfa, were also arrested. This three were released after 15 days of detention and cleared of further prosecution.
Ms. Liu, Ms. Lei, Ms. Xu, and Ms. Lu were first put on criminal detention at Xinjian County No.1 Detention Center and then transferred to the Nanchang City No.1 Detention Center.
The police ordered Ms. Liu to sign a statement to renounce Falun Gong while ransacking her home around midnight. She refused to comply. She developed some medical condition after over five months of detention and was later transferred to the police hospital.
When Ms. Liu and Ms. Lei were released on February 8, 2022, their families learned that both of them had been secretly sentenced to one year in prison. Ms. Xu and Ms. Lu were also sentenced, but the exact prison terms remain to be investigated. Both remain in custody at the time of writing.
According to information collected by Minghui.org, 17 Falun Gong practitioners in Jiangxi were sentenced, 114 were arrested, and 48 were harassed in the first half of 2021.