(Minghui.org) Four locals in Baishan City were sentenced to prison for refusing to renounce Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline being persecuted by the Chinese communist regime.

Mr. Chi Minxiang, 53, was given 5 years and fined 5,000 yuan. Ms. Zhang Keyang, 46, was given 4 years and fined 4,000 yuan. Mr. Ding Yumin, 69, and Mr. Li Xinwen, 65, were each given 1 year and fined 1,000 yuan.

The four Falun Gong practitioners were arrested on September 12, 2016. Mr. Ding and Mr. Li are currently on bail, as the local detention center declined to admit them, citing their poor health condition. Mr. Chi went on a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention shortly after his arrest. He was sent to a hospital for a medical examination and released on September 28, 2016. Police, however, took him back into custody the very next day. He now remains at Baishan Detention Center, where Ms. Zhang has been held since her arrest.

Mr. Chi’s family has been denied visits with him at the detention center.

The four practitioners were convicted on October 30, 2017. It is unclear when they were tried.