(Minghui.org) Five Kangping County, Liaoning Province residents were recently sentenced to prison for raising awareness about the persecution of their faith in Falun Gong.

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. Gao Lihua, Mr. Dai Mingming, Mr. Gong Baojun and his wife, Ms. Liang Xiuhua, were each sentenced to five years. Ms. Han Jun, Mr. Dai’s wife, was given 4.5 years.

The five practitioners were arrested on May 11, 2019 after being reported for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong in Ganqika Town, Inner Mongolia, about 70 miles away from Kangping.

Ms. Han was released on bail seven days later, while the other four remained incarcerated at the Ganqika Detention Center.

The five practitioners appeared in the Ganqika Court on December 11, 2019. Four lawyers entered not guilty pleas for them. The presiding judge frequently interrupted the lawyers and said, “You are not allowed to talk about Falun Gong, or you are promoting it here.”

Mr. Gong and Ms. Liang’s oldest daughter kept crying during their hearing and almost passed out. Their second daughter has quit her job to take care of the family, especially her 14-year-old brother.

Related report:

Five Liaoning Residents Tried in Inner Mongolia for Distributing Information about Their Faith