Three people received jail terms from two to four years for cult activities in Hezhou of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local court said.
The suspects, Li Meiying, Huang Caiqiong and Nie Qunying, handed out pamphlets for the Lord God Sect cult and organized gatherings in towns and villages in Hezhou since 2013, according to a verdict by the People's Court of Hezhou.
Huang and Nie coaxed a villager surnamed Wu to give his two underage daughters to the "service of the Lord God". The two children went missing after they were brought out of town for a cult gathering in February 2014. They were separately rescued by the police six and eight months later, the verdict said.
The suspects continued spreading cult materials despite knowing it was illegal and shut down in 1998, the court added. The cult's founder was sentenced to death in 1999 on several counts of rape, fraud and organizing cult activities.
Huang was given four years in prison, Li three years and Nie two years.
