(Minghui.org) Twelve Yuanping City, Shanxi Province residents are facing indictment for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body improvement discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

The authorities demanded the prosecutor at the Yuanping Procuratorate to indict all Falun Gong practitioners for further sentencing, after the police submitted their cases on September 2, 2019.

Mr. Jia Cuiping and his wife Ms. Ma Ying, in their 70s, as well as Mr. Zhao Gaowen, were arrested on July 31, 2019.

Mr. Li Mingquan and his wife Ms. Bian Fang, Mr. Jin Xuhua, Mr. Zhao Di, Mr. Li Yuekuan, Mr. Li Youen, and Ms. Jin Zhi, all from Sunjiazhuang Village, were arrested around 5 a.m. on August 2.

Ms. Gai Ran and Ms. Mei Ying were arrested around 9 p.m. on August 2.

Except for Mr. Li Yuekuan, Mr. Li Youen, and Ms. Jin, who were given 15 days of administrative detention, all of the other practitioners were put on criminal detention. The male practitioners are held at the Yuanping Detention Center and the female practitioners are at the Xinzhou Detention Center.

The police ransacked all of the practitioners’ homes and confiscated their Falun Gong books and related materials. Mr. Jia and Ms. Ma’s son, who doesn’t practice Falun Gong, also had his home raided by the police.

It was reported that Yang Meixi, head of the Xinzhou City Police Department, orchestrated the arrests.

More details about the arrests are being investigated.