Single Father Sentenced to 4 Years, Leaving Teenage Daughter to Fend for Herself

Mr. Chen Mingxi, a 52-year-old resident of Chongqing in China was recently sentenced to 4 years in prison for practicing Falun Gong. This is the third time Chinese communist officials have sentenced Mr. Chen for his faith. A year after the Chinese regime started to persecute Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. Chen was put in a forced labor camp in September 2000 and again in April 2011, for a total of 3 years. The torture he endured during the first term left him disabled.

Mr. Chen’s wife Ms. Wang Xiaoxia, who also practiced Falun Gong, was tortured for distributing brochures about Falun Gong. She lost consciousness 3 days before a scheduled court hearing and died on October 22, 2015. Without a mother and with her father in prison, Mr. and Mrs. Chen’s teenage daughter has been left struggling to fend for herself.

Mr. Chen’s Recent Prison Sentence

On June 8, 2021, at 8:00 am, as Mr. Chen was about to go out, a dozen police officers surrounded him and broke into his home. They confiscated his Falun Gong books, a printer, a computer and more than 10,000 yuan in cash (~$1,580 USD), filling four big bags and a suitcase.

The police took Mr. Chen to the Shuanglong Police Station where they interrogated him. Shortly after, they took him to three different facilities for physical examinations. Once it was determined at all the facilities that he had very high blood pressure, the police released him on bail in the evening. The next morning, the police ordered him to sign a 6-month house arrest notice at the police station.

That same morning, the police submitted his case to the Jiangbei District Procuratorate, which then indicted him and moved his case to the Jiangbei District Court.

Mr. Chen appeared in court on December 23, 2021.

Prosecutor Liu Jie read the indictment and Mr. Chen then stated that no law has ever criminalized Falun Gong in China. (The Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong was an extra judicial order by the Chinese Communist Party, which violates China’s Constitution). Mr. Chen’s lawyer also added that he has not caused any harm to anyone by practicing Falun Gong.

Before Mr. Chen could read his final defense statement, the presiding judge Sun Hongtao stopped him and adjourned the hearing. He said to Mr. Chen, “Why do you have to be so stubborn? If you didn’t have a minor to care for, we would have arrested you much earlier.”

Two months later, on February 18, 2022, the judge sentenced Mr. Chen to 4 years in prison with a 13,000 yuan (~$2,050 USD) fine.

Based on an original report from Minghui.org.

Perpetrators involved in the case:

• Sun Hongtao (孙红涛), presiding judge of Jiangbei District Court
• Peng Yuxiao (彭郁潇), judge
• Li Hongwei (李红微), judge
• Huang Xiaoxiao (黄潇肖), court clerk