(Minghui.org) Mr. Chen Geng, a teacher of Pingtan County, Fujian Province, was arrested on his way to work on February 26, 2020. He was secretly sentenced to three years and three months in prison, and was transferred to Fuqing Prison on November 19 after his appeal was rejected.
Mr. Chen was charged with endangering national security and undermining law enforcement for posting on social media about the persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Mr. Chen Geng
Since his arrest, his wife and daughter have suffered from insomnia, worrying about his situation. The police also harassed his family several times and attempted to collect more information as evidence to charge him, but were turned down.
Mr. Chen's mother, 78, and father, 88, traveled thousands of miles to police bureaus and other government agencies to petition and demand his release, but to no avail. The local detention center also used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to block his family visitation or even correspondence. The authorities also kept his family in the dark about his trial and his current condition.
Police recently threatened Mr. Chen's mother, who also practices Falun Gong, “You cannot see your son if you continue to practice.”
Gaining a New Life After Taking Up Falun Gong
Mr. Chen was a quiet and sensible child. He was honest and had good grades in school. As a child, he was always bullied, but he never fought back, just kept silent. His personality became introverted and unwilling to communicate with others. At one point, he didn't know his direction in life and felt helpless.
After Mr. Chen started cultivating Falun Gong, he became a cheerful, optimistic, and healthy person. He follows the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. He is now kind and friendly. Falun Gong gave Mr. Chen a new life.
Mr. Chen often helps neighbors to repair their electric appliances. He used his own money to purchase parts and never charged any fees. Once someone's house was on fire, and Mr. Chen jumped through a window to put out the fire. Afterward, people wanted to give him money and things to thank him, but he only smiled and refused to accept anything. He was respected by everyone who knows him.
Mr. Chen had been teaching for more than thirty years. He is talented in calligraphy. His work had been exhibited at local calligraphy exhibitions many times.
Mr. Chen’s calligraphy
Multiples Arrests, Sentencing, and Torture in Prison
After the Chinese government launched a nationwide campaign against Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Chen went to Beijing to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. He was detained for several months. Another teacher who went with him, Mr. Xiao Yanglong, was later tortured to death in police custody at the age of 32.
Several teachers at the same school where Mr. Chen taught petitioned for his release, knowing that Falun Gong is being wronged. Even the captain of the Domestic Security Unit of the local police department admitted that Mr. Chen was a good man, but they had to arrest him in order to keep their jobs.
After a few months of detention, Mr. Chen was released. Days later, he quit his job and insisted to go to Beijing again to appeal. The Education Bureau director tried to persuade him not to go, but Mr. Chen said he has made up his mind. The director relented and said, “If you insist on going, then just go. But after you come back, you still have to continue your classes. You are a talent we can’t afford to lose.”
This time, however, Mr. Chen wasn’t released soon after he was arrested again for appealing for Falun Gong. Instead, he was sentenced to prison for an unknown term.
While incarcerated, he was brutally tortured. He was shocked with electric batons. The electricity was so strong that his body jerked involuntarily. His body was covered with bruises from beatings. But no matter how he was beaten and scolded, he maintained calm and stayed quiet. His faith in Falun Gong never wavered. Sometimes, even those who tortured him couldn’t continue and burst into tears.
At one point, Mr. Chen escaped. He was arrested later for distributing Falun Gong material in public and taken back to the prison. Knowing that he was being persecuted, many inmates treated him well. They gave him their clothes and cut his hair for him. Mr. Chen was eventually released after he went on a hunger strike.
Financial Impact of Persecution
Mr. Chen used to teach at an award-winning high school, but due to pressure from the authorities, the school leadership was forced to demote him to an elementary school. His salary was also reduced. After his latest arrest, his teaching position was terminated.
Mr. Chen has a school-age daughter, as well as an 88-year-old father and a 78-year-old mother to support. His teaching job provided the only source of income for the family, which is now struggling financially.
For years, Mr. Chen was targeted by the police for posting criticism of the persecution of Falun Gong on overseas websites, and for posting software that circumvents Internet censorship on WeChat. He was repeatedly threatened and harassed.
Police had illegally searched Mr. Chen's home multiple times since 1999. They confiscated his Falun Gong books, computers, printers, and his cell phones, etc. worth over 200,000 yuan in total. Once the police extorted 7,000 yuan from his family in exchange for Mr. Chen's release on bail. When Mr. Chen was tortured and hospitalized in police custody, his family was forced to pay his medical expenses. Another time police extorted 20,000 yuan from the family.
During an illegal search of Mr. Chen's home, police broke a fan but refused to compensate him. Another time when Mr. Chen was detained, police tried to inspect the information stored on his cellphone. Worried that the information on his phone would lead police to other practitioners and get them implicated, Mr. Chen smashed the phone.
