Sister of U.S. Resident Forced from Her Home for Nearly a Decade in China

In March 2024, Ms. Chen Jinghui from Jilin Province was arrested for the latest time for her faith, as reported by Minghui. She was one of the 251 Minghui-documented practitioners subject to harassed by CCP officers in March 2024. The family was not provided details regarding the perpetrators involved and intended length of her detainment.

Ms. Chen Jinghui is 55 years old, a graduate of Northeast Normal University, and a certified public accountant. Her sister, Chen Jingyu, and her husband were able to relocate to the U.S., but Jinghui remained vulnerable to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) threats. Her sister in New York continues to advocate for her sister’s release and the release of other Falun Gong practitioners wrongfully detained in China.

Ms. Chen Jinghui, her sister, and her brother-in-law are all practitioners of Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice that promotes truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance but has been subject to persecution by the CCP for nearly 25 years.

The Chen sisters’ parents are also elderly, both in their 80s, making the detainment of Ms. Chen Jinghui a significant detriment to their well-being. Jingyu herself has also experienced illegal detainment at the hands of the CCP, making her especially concerned about the treatment her sister is enduring. She states that “the mental and physical harm caused by this [detainment] is beyond words.”

History of Illegal Detainment

Ms. Chen Jinghui began practicing Falun Gong in 2011 and experienced significant benefit to her health when her uterine fibroids quickly dissolved. She was previously known for being stubborn with a short temper but became more considerate and calm after practicing Falun Gong. The positive changes in her life inspired her to tell other people the truth about Falun Gong, as CCP propaganda continually depicted it as a harmful practice. However, her commitment to the truth led to harassment by the CCP.

On November 2015, she was arrested for the first time after someone reported her for distributing Falun Gong informational materials at a local mall. As a result, she was detained at the Changchun City Lockup in Weizigou Village, Kuancheng District, for 15 days.

Ms. Chen later rented a place to stay in order to avoid police harassment despite owning her own home. However, when she came home in the afternoon on February 28, 2017, her landlord and four CCP officers were waiting at her door. Two of the officers were in plainclothes while the other two were in SWAT police uniforms. The officers ransacked her rental place and caused a large mess.

She was one of 341 practitioners harassed by police in Jilin Province in the first half of 2017, as documented by Minghui. House ransacking is a common tactic used by authorities as a way to confiscate Falun Gong materials and spiritual texts to use against practitioners in show trials.

One hour later, three more officers came back to the rental place, this time with Ms. Chen’s housemate, a fellow Falun Gong practitioner. She had not known her housemate was arrested. One of the officers said he was captain Cui Guonian of the Kuancheng District Domestic Security Division. The officers then took Ms. Chen to the police station and didn’t release her until midnight.

On September 17, 2021, the local police station and community office shut off the power supply to Ms. Chen’s own home around 8 p.m. She had a tenant living there who stepped outside to see what was happening, only for five people to barge into the house. They questioned the tenant in an attempt to find Ms. Chen’s location and also called Ms. Chen’s son to harass him.

In March of 2023, around 11 p.m., officers from Guangfu Road Police Station knocked on Ms. Chen’s door when only her parents were home. The old couple did not open the door despite the police returning multiple times to knock. The police later installed surveillance cameras in the apartment building hallway. Ms. Chen’s parents had to move out to avoid harassment.

Recent Events

In mid-March of 2024, Ms. Chen was arrested and held at the Changchun City Detention Center. The authorities refused to provide any information to her family, only telling her son to wait for a “result.” The person calling refused to reveal his identity, which police agency arrested Ms. Chen, or who was in charge of the case.

Ms. Chen’s son lives out of town but returned to Changchun a month later to inquire about the status of his mother’s case. The detention center said his mother was arrested by the Changjiu Road Police Station, outside his maternal grandparents’ home. The police had raided their home and confiscated his mother’s computer and cell phone.

In April 2024, her sister and brother-in-law belatedly found out about her arrest. They are very concerned about the mistreatment Ms. Chen Jinghui may be facing while in custody since her sister understands more than anyone the conditions practitioners frequently face while in illegal detainment.

Ms. Chen Jingyu and her husband are engaged in strong efforts to raise awareness about her case to the public and U.S. government officials involved in human rights issues.