(Minghui.org) A 48-year-old woman in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province was sentenced to three years in prison after two court appearances in February 2023. This is not the first time that Ms. Chen Xue has been targeted for practicing Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since July 1999. She was previously given two years of forced labor and held in solitary confinement for two straight months.
Ms. Chen’s sentencing stemmed from her latest arrest on June 18, 2022. Her home was ransacked and she was taken to Minqing Detention Center. Her arrest was approved by the Gulou District Procuratorate in July 2022, and her case was moved to the Mawei District Procuratorate three months later.
Mawei District Court held two hearings, on February 17 and 23, 2023, respectively, before sentencing her to three years.
Ms. Chen took up Falun Gong in August 1996 but gave it up shortly after the persecution began on July 20, 1999. She landed a teaching job at the School of Information Science and Engineering at Fujian University of Technology in May 2003.
Ms. Chen resumed practicing Falun Gong in August 2006 and began to raise awareness of the persecution. On November 29 that year, she told her students about the staged “Tiananmen self-immolation” incident and the movement of people quitting the CCP. One of her students reported her to the university administration, which then escalated the case to the Fujian Province Education Work Committee. Then-committee secretary Chen Hua ordered her university to remove her from her teaching position, effective December 5, 2006. She was reassigned to work in academic services.
On December 29, 2006, her university worked with the Fuzhou City Police Department Jin’an Branch and arrested her at work. They ordered her to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong. She refused and was detained for 15 days.
On March 26, 2007, her university gave her an unsatisfactory annual performance evaluation for 2006 and also included a major disciplinary action in her personnel file. As further punishment, they deducted nearly 15,000 yuan in total from her pay over the next few months.
Ms. Chen enrolled in a part-time Master’s program at Central South University in 2004 and finished her course study in October 2006. Under the instigation of Fujian University of Technology, Central South University didn’t allow her to defend her thesis as scheduled in September 2007, citing her disciplinary action as an excuse. As of now, she still cannot finish her Master’s program.
Ms. Chen’s next arrest took place on May 9, 2008, when the Gulou Domestic Security Office seized her on campus and ransacked her home. Her Falun Gong books, printer, and copy paper were confiscated. She was detained for 15 days before being released on bail.
Ms. Chen was arrested outside her apartment building on January 19, 2011, and had her home ransacked. She was given two years of forced labor on February 25, 2011.
While serving time at Fujian Province Women’s Labor Camp, Ms. Chen was held in solitary confinement from March to May 2011. She couldn’t see the outside from the obscured windows, and she had to relieve herself in a chamber pot. One or two inmates monitored her around the clock. She had to seek permission from the guards for everything she did, including eating, sleeping, relieving herself, and showering. She was also forced to watch videos slandering Falun Gong every day. The guards had a “talk” with her every day, often late into the night, sometimes 1 or 2 o’clock. The conversations were often intimidating and were aimed at forcing her to renounce Falun Gong.
She was released in early 2013.
Perpetrators’ Information
Mawei District CourtAddress: 76 Luoxingxi Road, Mawei District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province 350015Person in charge of Ms. Chen’s case: Li Nan 86+591-83689139Criminal court president: Lin Chen 86+591-83983176
Mawei District ProcuratorateAddress: 138 Rujiangdong Road, Mawei District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province 350000Person in charge of Ms. Chen’s case: Zheng Tiansen 86+591-63151609
Related Reports:
Three Women in Fujian Tried for Raising Awareness of the Persecution of Falun Gong
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