(Minghui.org) Ms. Pan Hongming and Mr. Yue Chunguang, both of Tonghua City, Jilin Province, were secretly sentenced to prison between June and July 2023 for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999.

The sentencing stemmed from a study session hosted by Mr. Yue at his home on August 11, 2022. That night he and Ms. Pan, Ms. He Qiuhong, and Xu (gender and first name unknown) were reading Falun Gong books together, when a woman knocked on the door, claiming to be Mr. Yue’s upstairs neighbor. She said that he was making too much noise and demanded to be allowed inside to see what was going on. Mr. Yue refused to let her in. The woman then claimed that she was from the residential committee and told him to open the door. When Mr. Yue again would not let her in, she finally said that she was a police officer and threatened him.

After half an hour, the woman and other officers who came with her began to bang on the door. They then hired a locksmith and broke in through Mr. Yue’s security door. Several officers pushed Mr. Yue down and held him there. Others confiscated his computer and printer. His three guests and his son were also arrested and taken to the Erdaojiang Police Department. The police attempted to force Mr. Yue’s son, who had just returned from out of town to visit him, to admit that the confiscated items all belonged to his father, but he refused to comply.

The police took Ms. He to her hair salon and home and searched them but didn’t find anything of interest. She was released on bail at around 5 p.m. the next day.

Xu had a heart attack while being interrogated and was released on bail the next day. The police ordered Xu to report to them every month. Ms. Pan struggled with severe back pain during the night spent in the police station.

At 1 p.m. on August 12, 2022, the police raided Ms. Pan’s home when no one was around. They took her computer and printer. That evening, she was taken to the Tonghua County Detention Center and Mr. Yue was taken to the Liuhe County Detention Center.

After his wife passed away, Mr. Yue became the main caregiver for her 75-year-old mother, who lived with him. Following his arrest, the police and community workers promised to help take care of her. On October 20, 2022, a downstairs neighbor noticed water leaking from his ceiling so he went upstairs to Mr. Yue’s. No one answered the door even though he thought Mr. Yue’s mother-in-law should have been there. He called the police for a wellness check. They went into Mr. Yue’s apartment and found his mother-in-law had died some time ago.

The Liuhe County Court tried Ms. Pan secretly on February 10, 2023. The lawyer her family hired for her was forced to drop her case after being threatened by the local justice bureau. Her husband, son, and daughter-in-law were present. Her son had prepared a statement as a family defender, but the judge took it away. Neither he nor Ms. Pan herself were allowed to defend her innocence.

Mr. Yue was tried three days later on February 13. According to an insider, because the authorities didn’t want Mr. Yue to give details about how he’d been persecuted, the judge didn’t inform his family of the hearing. He wasn’t represented by a lawyer either.

The judge secretly announced their verdicts between June and July 2023, with Ms. Pan sentenced to three years and Mr. Yue to two years.