(Minghui.org) Two women in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, are facing indictment for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Wei Liping, 67, and Ms. Liu Xinli, 69, were arrested on the afternoon of March 8, 2026, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The Wutaizi Police Station officers raided their homes and put them in the Yingkou City Detention Center.

The Zhanqian District Procuratorate initially returned the case to the police citing insufficient evidence, but the police fabricated additional evidence against the two women and resubmitted the case.

The police accused the two women of violating Article 300 of the Criminal Law, which stipulates that anyone using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No law in China, however, has criminalized Falun Gong or labeled it as a cult. Ms. Wei and Ms. Liu’s talking to people about Falun Gong caused no harm to anyone or society at large, much less did it “undermine law enforcement.” Yet they are now facing indictment for exercising their constitutional right to freedom of belief.

Both women have already been targeted for their faith prior to this latest experience of persecution. Ms. Liu, then a pre-school worker, was arrested at work on September 28, 2012, by Liu Zhenlong and over ten other officers from the Wutaizi Police Station. They detained her for 15 days.

Ms. Wei was arrested on December 26, 2014, by Xinxing Police Station officers and held in the Yingkou District Detention Center. She was later sentenced to three years and admitted to the Liaoning Province Women’s Prison. The guards there forced her to do hard labor and gave her food of extremely poor quality. Her pension and medical insurance were stopped during her imprisonment. It is unclear whether her benefits were ever reinstated after she was released.

Ms. Wei, Ms. Liu, and Ms. Li Huifang (also a practitioner) were arrested together on May 26, 2025, after being reported for talking to people about Falun Gong. The Jinniushan Police Station officers raided their homes in the middle of the night and detained them for 15 days.

Three officers from the Jinniushan Police Station suddenly broke into practitioner Ms. Gao Xiuhua’s home on October 24, 2025, and arrested her. Ms. Wei and Ms. Liu, who happened to be visiting, were seized as well and were detained for 15 days.