(Minghui.org) Minghui.org recently learned that a Qingyang City, Gansu Province, resident was sentenced to five years in prison for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.

Ms. Cao Wenmei, in her 60s, was arrested on February 17, 2020 and released on bail shortly afterwards due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The arresting officers from the Zhengning County Police Department submitted her case to the local procuratorate, which indicted her and forwarded her case to the local court.

Her friends learned in April 2024 that she was sentenced to five years and recently submitted a report about her wrongful conviction to Minghui.org. Other details of her prosecution remain to be investigated. It is also unclear whether Ms. Cao was taken back into custody to serve time.

This is not the first time Ms. Cao has been targeted for her faith. She and another Falun Gong practitioner, Cao Ming (gender unknown; unclear whether they are related), were arrested on January 21, 2014, while distributing Falun Gong informational materials. The Zhengning County Court sentenced Ms. Cao Wenmei to three years with four years probation around February 2016. Ten months later, the same court sentenced Cao Ming to four years in prison.