CHINA - A court in China sentenced two cult members to death for the murder of a 37-year old woman who refused to be recruited as member of Quannengshen religious cult last May.

Zhang Fan and Zhang Lidong were sentenced to death by the Yantai People's Court for the crime of intentional homicide.

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Another cult member, Lu Yingchun, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Other two cult members, Zhang Qiaolian and Zhang Hang, were also sentenced ten and seven years  imprisonment, respectively.

The trial of the five perpetrators started on August, for the murder of a woman in Shangdon who refused to be a part of the Quannengshen cult,  also known as the Church of Almighty God.

The victim was beaten to death when she did not give her contact number to the cult members.

The Quannengshen cult originated from the province of Henan and was founded by Zhao Weishan, also known as Xu Wenshan. Among its preachments was that of a global apocalypse that would occur in 2012.

The number of the cult members who believe that Weishan's wife, Yang Xiangbin, is a resurrection of Jesus Christ, have increased over the years.

The couple left for the United States in 2000.

The Quannengshen was a subject of a crackdown by Chinese authorities in 2012 when it called for a battle to put an end to the "Red Dragon Communist Party."

Cult demonstrations were stopped and some of its leaders were executed due to the said crackdown.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has always been on the lookout for any cult or questionable religious groups.

It can be recalled that in 1999, China campaigned to ban the religious cult Falun Gong. Thousands of its members picketed in Beijing to demand its full recognition as a religious organization in China.

TagsQuannengshen, Church of Almighty God, religious cult