(Minghui.org) Five Suiling County, Heilongjiang Province residents were sentenced to prison on October 16, 2025, for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Mr. Li Zhongyuan was given five years and Mr. Wang Yu four and a half years. Mr. Xiu Zhongchen and Mr. Zhao Shuquan were each sentenced to two and a half years with four years probation. Mr. Jiang Ming was given two years with three years probation. All five were also each fined 10,000 yuan.

The practitioners were arrested on May 10, 2025, per an order from the Heilongjiang Province Public Security Bureau. Police in Hailun City and Suihua City were in charge of the arrests, assisted by their counterparts in Suiling County. Both Hailun City and Suiling County are under the administration of Suihua City.

The practitioners were targeted after plainclothes officers spotted them distributing Falun Gong informational materials in Hailun City. They were video-recorded and photographed. The materials distributed were also used as evidence against them.

The arrests started at 3 a.m. on May 10. One practitioner was seized as soon as he stepped out of his door, by plainclothes officers who had been staked outside. The police did not produce their IDs or a search warrant, nor did they notify his family of the arrest.

The five practitioners were taken to the Hailun City Detention Center the day of their arrests. They were sentenced by the Hailun City Court on October 16, 2025. It is unclear when they were indicted or tried.

Mr. Li and Mr. Wang were admitted to the Beian Prison. As Mr. Jiang and Mr. Xiu were released on bail prior to the trial, they and Mr. Zhao, who was also released on bail earlier after he fell ill in custody, were forced to write statements to renounce their faith and ordered to use a phone app to check in with authorities every day and report to the local judicial bureau in person every month.