(Minghui.org) A married couple in Linyi City, Shandong Province, were recently sentenced to prison for their faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Mr. Xiao Yujun was sentenced to five and a half years, with a 50,000-yuan fine. His wife, Ms. Zhang Aimei, was given four and a half years, with a 40,000-yuan fine. The presiding judge Zhang Tianyi, assistant judges Zhang Chengxin and Liu Ping, assistant to the judge Wang Yajie, and court clerk Liu Yalin signed the verdict.

The couple were arrested at home on July 22, 2025. Three plainclothes officers broke in without knocking. They flashed a piece of paper in front of Mr. Xiao and claimed that it was a search warrant. They then took him away.

Not long after, the police returned to arrest Ms. Zhang. They searched the property and didn’t produce a list of confiscated items for her to sign.

Mr. Xiao was admitted to the Mengyin County Detention Center, while Ms. Zhang was taken to the Linyi City Detention Center. They were soon indicted by prosecutor Meng Qingxiu from the Yinan County Procuratorate.

The couple appeared in the Yinan County Court on January 13 and May 13, 2026. Their two lawyers entered not guilty pleas for them.

The lawyers pointed out that their clients have the Constitutional right to practice their faith and that they didn’t commit a crime by doing so. When the couple began practicing Falun Gong in 1997, the government encouraged the public to do so because of its significant health benefits.

The prosecutor claimed that the couple “committed serious crimes” without providing supporting evidence. Some of the confiscated Falun Gong materials used as evidence by the prosecution were outdated. The police didn’t verify the amount of confiscated materials with the couple either.

The prosecutor listed Gong Maofu and Zhang Yuzhi as two witnesses who reported the couple for distributing Falun Gong materials. However, neither of them appeared in court for cross-examination.

Mr. Xiao also testified in his own defense. He argued that no Chinese law has ever criminalized Falun Gong and that the Chinese Press and Publication Administration lifted the ban on Falun Gong books in 2011. He demanded an acquittal for himself and his wife.

The judges convicted the couple on June 22, 2026. They have appealed the verdicts.