(Minghui.org) Six residents of Hebei Province are facing prosecution for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Five of the practitioners, including Ms. Zhang Wenping, Ms. Cheng Guijun, Ms. Song Guifen, Mr. Men Bingcheng and Mr. Yu Yongli, are residents of Dongguang County, Cangzhou City. Ms. Li Zhenying lives in Hengshui City.

The six of them were monitored by officers of Ningjin County Domestic Security Division in Shandong Province for six months, after the police found out that they had been visiting the local community fair in Ningjin County on a regular basis to talk to people about Falun Gong. The Shandong police said they knew everything about the daily schedules of the practitioners and their family members.

Ms. Zhang, Ms. Cheng and Ms. Song were arrested on the morning of June 19, 2024, when they went to Ningjin County again. In the afternoon, several plainclothes officers from the Ningjin County Domestic Security Division drove about 50 miles to Dongguang County and raided the three practitioners’ homes, with help from the local police.

Around the same time, the police in Dongguang County arrested Mr. Men, Mr. Yu and Ms. Li at their respective homes and confiscated several computers and printers from them. There was also an unverified report that Mr. Men was actually arrested in Ningjin County, not at his home.

The six practitioners are currently held at the Dezhou City Detention Center. Dezhou oversees Ningjin. The Ningjin County Procuratorate approved their arrests on July 29, 2024. Prosecutor Zheng Fangrong recently returned their cases to the Ningjin County Domestic Security Division, citing insufficient evidence.