(Minghui.org) Ms. An Lanbo and Ms. Wang Ping were tried by the Chuxiong City Court on October 26, 2016, for practicing Falun Gong.

The two women spoke in their own defense. Ms. An told the court that practicing Falun Gong does not violate any existing Chinese law and is allowed in other countries. The prosecutor recommended that Ms. An be sentenced to up to a four-year prison term and Ms. Wang up to eight-years.

Ms. An and Ms. Wang are both employees of the Chuxiong Welfare Center. They were recorded by surveillance cameras and identified by police for distributing Falun Gong informational materials during a winter day in 2015.

The Chuxiong Police Department, with more than 20 officers, broke into their homes on December 8, 2015, and arrested them. The police ransacked the homes and confiscated Falun Gong books, computers, printers, and other personal belongings. The practitioners were taken to the police department and released on bail pending trial after midnight.

The police constantly summoned the two women. They tried to force them to write guarantee statements promising that they would renounce Falun Gong, threatening that their pensions would be canceled, and that they would be sentenced to prison if they refused to comply. The police also pressured their family members. Officers from the Yunnan Province and Chuxiong 610 Offices also interrogated them. Staff from the Chuxiong Procuratorate questioned them several times as well.

Both women are in their fifties. Ms. An had poliomyelitis as a child and is crippled. Ms. Wang suffers from a physical disability and needs a crutch to walk.

Parties involved in the persecution of Ms. An and Ms. Wang:Zhang Qian (张茜), prosecutor from Chuxiong Procuratorate: +86-878-3011950Zhao Yong (赵勇), officer from Chuxiong Domestic Security Division: +86-18287897773