(Minghui.org)
Name: Chen XuzhenChinese Name: 陈绪珍Gender: FemaleAge: UnknownCity: DanjiangkouProvince: HubeiOccupation: N/ADate of Death: March 14, 2024Date of Most Recent Arrest: March 2, 2023Most Recent Place of Detention: Shiyan City Detention Center
A woman in Danjiangkou City, Hubei Province, died on March 14, 2024, one month after she was released in critical condition after serving one year in custody.
Ms. Chen Xuzhen was arrested on March 2, 2023, while studying the Falun Gong teachings together with several others, including her sister Ms. Chen Xuyun. Falun Gong is a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since July 1999.
Everyone in the group was arrested and taken to the Zhangwan District Brainwashing Center (located at the local Niutoushan Forest Park) in Shiyan City, which oversees Danjiangkou City. About two weeks later, they were transferred to the Shiyan City Detention Center. The Zhangwan District Court sentenced seven of them to prison months later (exact time unknown).
Ms. Chen Xuyun was given three years and fined 5,000 yuan. Ms. Chen Xuzhen received one year and a 2,000-yuan fine. The sisters remained in the detention center after their wrongful conviction. The other practitioners’ prison terms weren’t clear.
Ms. Chen Xuzhen became critically ill and was released from the detention center in February 2024. She died one month later. Her passing capped years of persecution for upholding her faith in Falun Gong. She was previously arrested multiple times and faced constant harassment.
Earlier Persecution
Ms. Chen took up Falun Gong in 1997 and learned to be more considerate. She no longer fought with her husband and also recovered from pleurisy (inflammation of the tissues that line the lungs), kidney disease, and frequent colds.
On July 20, 1999, the day the persecution began, the volunteer coordinator of Falun Gong activities in Ms. Chen’s area was arrested. She went to the capital city of Wuhan to appeal to the provincial government. The police took photos of her and put her on the list of targeted Falun Gong practitioners. They monitored her closely after she returned to Shiyan City.
Ms. Chen and a few other practitioners were arrested one morning in early 2000, while doing the Falun Gong exercises at a train station. They were first taken to the Junzhou Road Police Station and then moved to the Danjiangkou City Detention Center. During the month she was detained, her husband struggled to care for their son (a high school senior) and their third-grade daughter. Ms. Chen had no full time job and her husband had been laid off. The couple ran a small coal yard to make ends meet. The local street committee threatened to shut down their business if Ms. Chen’s husband failed to stop her from going out to appeal for Falun Gong again.
After Ms. Chen was released, the police still harassed her and raided her home from time to time. They also arranged for people to monitor her family every day. Her children were terrified and struggled to focus on their school work.
Ms. Chen and a few other practitioners boarded a train to Beijing on June 4, 2000, but were intercepted and taken back to Danjiang. She did the Falun Gong exercises one night and the guards instructed inmates to beat her and handcuff her in a hallway until midnight. After being detained for over a month, she was transferred to a brainwashing center.
Three people were assigned to watch Ms. Chen at the brainwashing center. They did not allow her to sleep and forced her to watch videos smearing Falun Gong and its founder. She was not released until early August 2000. She was also forced to pay 50 yuan per day for her living expenses at the brainwashing center.
While she was in detention, her son was preparing for his college entrance exam. The teen relied on his paternal grandmother to cook some simple food for him, as his father looked after his younger sister.
Several officers deceived Ms. Chen’s husband into returning home from the coal yard on the night of December 26, 2000. They ordered him to persuade his wife to go to the police station with them. When Ms. Chen refused to go, her husband urged her to comply with the police. She relented and got in the police cruiser, only to be driven straight to the Danzhao Road Detention Center. She was held there until January 18, 2001 (six days before the Chinese New Year).
On January 23, 2001, the eve of the Chinese New Year, the communist regime staged the self-immolation on Tiananmen Square. Ms. Chen went to visit her mother in early March that year and the police tracked her down there. They ordered her to state her stand on the self-immolation incident. She said the self-immolators were not Falun Gong practitioners, as Falun Gong prohibits killing of any kind, including suicide.
Officers Jiang, Liang and a few others from the Daba Road Police Station arrested Ms. Chen from her coal yard days later on March 7, 2001. They took her to a brainwashing center. Her mother was dealt a heavy blow and died four months later.
The 610 Office in Shiyan City and Danjiangkou City arrested Ms. Chen in October 2004 and ordered her to criticize Falun Gong. In August 2008, the 610 Office and the street committee ordered her to sign statements to smear Falun Gong.
Related Report:
Shiyan City, Hubei Province: Same Court Sentences Seven Falun Gong Practitioners to Prison
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