U.S. Resident Calls for Release of Sister Detained in China for Practicing Falun Gong
(Minghui.org) A 53-year-old U.S. resident recounted her family’s suffering at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during a candlelight vigil held in front of the Chinese Consulate in Manhattan, New York, on April 21, 2024. Ms. Chen Jingyu, her husband, and sister were all targeted for practicing Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the CCP since July 1999.
While Ms. Chen and her husband managed to flee to the U.S., her sister was subjected to the ongoing persecution. She learned from a friend in April 2024 that her sister was arrested again one month ago and her family has not been given any updates from the authorities. Ms. Chen is calling for her sister’s release as well as that of numerous other Falun Gong practitioners still detained in China for practicing their faith.
Ms. Chen also said that her elderly parents, both in their 80s, are now left without care because her sister is in detention. She is also extremely worried about her sister’s safety. She said, “I was illegally detained by the CCP, so I know that the mental and physical harm caused by this is beyond words.”
Below is information about Ms. Chen’s sister, Ms. Chen Jinghui.
Ms. Chen Jinghui Arrested Multiple Times, Most Recently in March 2024
Ms. Chen Jinghui
Ms. Chen Jinghui, 55, graduated from Northeast Normal University and is a certified public accountant. She took up Falun Gong around 2011 and her uterine fibroids soon disappeared. Once a stubborn and quick-tempered person, she became calmer and more considerate. Given her positive experience with Falun Gong, she felt compelled to tell people that the practice was nothing like what was depicted in the CCP propaganda. She thus became a target.
Ms. Chen was arrested on November 14, 2015, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong informational materials at a shopping mall. She was held at the Changchun City Lockup (located in Weizigou Village, Kuancheng District of the city) for 15 days.
To avoid police harassment, Ms. Chen rented a place even though she had her own home. When she returned to her rental place on the afternoon of February 28, 2017 her landlord and four officers (two in plainclothes and two in SWAT police uniforms) were waiting for her. One of the plainclothes officers said he was surnamed Li. He and the other officers then ransacked the place and made a big mess.
About one hour later, three more officers (two in plainclothes) came with Ms. Chen’s housemate, who was also a Falun Gong practitioner. Only then did she realize that her housemate had been arrested. One of the plainclothes officers said he was captain Cui Guonian of the Kuancheng District Domestic Security Division. They took Ms. Chen to a police station and released her around midnight.
The local police station and the community office shut off the power supply to Ms. Chen’s own home around 8 p.m. on September 17, 2021. Her tenant stepped outside to check what was going on and five people immediately barged in. They questioned the tenant and asked if he knew Ms. Chen’s whereabouts. The police later also called her son to harass him.
Several officers from the Guangfu Road Police Station knocked on Ms. Chen’s door around 11 p.m. in mid-March 2023. Only her parents were in. The elderly couple did not open the door and the police returned a few more times to knock on the door. They later installed surveillance cameras in the hallway of the apartment building. Ms. Chen’s parents had to move out to avoid being harassed.
Ms. Chen was arrested again in mid-March 2024 and held at the Changchun City Detention Center. The authorities have kept her family in the dark except one call to her son notifying him to wait for a “result.” The caller refused to reveal his identity, which police agency arrested his mother, or who was in charge of the case.
Ms. Chen’s son, who lives out of town, returned to Changchun one month later to inquire about his mother’s case status. He learned from the detention center that his mother was arrested by the Changjiu Road Police Station officers outside his maternal grandparents’ home. The police next raided his grandparents’ home and confiscated his mother’s computer and cell phone there.