Previously Imprisoned for 9 Years, Jiangxi Woman Wrongfully Sentenced to 9.5 Years Again
(Minghui.org) Mr. Chen Xiangyang finally reunited with his wife Ms. Chen Wen on March 28, 2018, after finishing serving 12 years on March 28, 2018. Their reunion lasted only twenty days as Ms. Chen was arrested again on April 17 and later sentenced to 9.5 years.
The married couple in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province were both targeted for their shared faith in Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. Ms. Chen’s latest prison sentence was preceded by a previous 9-year term.
Latest Prison Sentencing
Ms. Chen was arrested on her way to work on April 17, 2018. Her son was also arrested at her home and detained at the Nanchang County Detention Center with her. The police also ransacked her parents’ home and confiscated her father’s computer.
Ms. Chen stood trial at the Xihu District Court on September 16, 2019. She argued that practicing Falun Gong is her constitutionally protected rights and she didn’t harm anyone in practicing her faith. The judge constantly interrupted her defense and quickly adjourned the hearing in forty minutes.
She was sentenced to nine years and six months in October 2019 and is currently serving time at Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison.
Previous Prison Terms
After the persecution of Falun Gong began in 1999, Ms. Chen and her husband Mr. Chen worked hard to raise awareness about the illegality of the persecution.
Mr. Chen and 23 other practitioners were arrested in September 2004 and taken to a brainwashing center hosted by the Nanchang 610 Office, an extralegal agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong. He was detained for seven days. The guards savagely beat him for holding fast to his faith and he vomited blood as a result.
He and his wife later rented an apartment and used it to print informational materials for other local practitioners to distribute.
On March 27, 2006, officers from Qingyunpu District Police Department ransacked the couple’s home when no one was around. After the couple’s son, then an elementary school student, returned home to see the aftermath of the police raid, he went to the rental apartment to tell his parents about it. The police followed the boy to the rental apartment and arrested his parents the next day. All of their equipment and a bank certificate of deposit with 18,000 yuan on it were confiscated.
Ms. Chen was taken to Daishan Police Station in Qingyunpu District in the evening. During small hours on this quiet cold spring night, people could hear the heart-piercing screams from the interrogation room of this police station.
On the afternoon of March 29, 2006, Ms. Chen and another female practitioner were transferred to the “510 Guest House,” which was a secret place for exiled members of the Chinese Communist Party.
Ms. Chen was hung up with both of her hands tied to the window and legs pulled straight to both sides like doing a split. Her body was then repeatedly shaken from side to side and pulled back and forth for 36 hours. She was also not allowed to close her eyes. This inhuman torture caused damage in her back, pain in the whole body, and loss of sensation in both hands.
Her husband, Mr. Chen, was brutally beaten at the detention center. He was covered with injuries, especially on his head. He has had frequent headaches since.
On October 20, 2006, Ms. Chen, Mr. Chen, and three other practitioners were tried by the Qingyunpu District Court. When Mr. Chen’s father urged the judge not to sentence the practitioners, he was removed from the courtroom. Shortly after, the judge announced that Ms. Chen was sentenced to nine years in prison and Mr. Chen to twelve years.
Inhuman Persecution in Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison
After Ms. Chen was taken to Jiangxi Province Women’s Prison on December 20, 2006, she was subjected to constant brutal torture for upholding her faith.
The guards once handcuffed and hung her up by the wrists to the window for five days. She was also forced to stand facing the wall every day for long hours for a consecutive five months, which caused severe swelling in the legs and feet. She was unable to stand or walk for a long while.
Ms. Chen was also under 24-hour surveillance by inmates. She was not allowed to sleep. The guards also starved her by giving her a glass of water every day. She was also tortured on the tiger bench. The physical torment caused her to quickly lose weight and she looked much older than her age.
Torture illustration: tiger bench
In April 2009, the prison guards again instigated inmates to brutally torture Ms. Chen. They forced her to stand for several days without a break and deprived her of sleep. When she became sleepy and couldn’t keep her eyes open, they spread or dropped essential oil into her eyes.
Ms. Chen was also confined in an isolation room for four months. She only had two meals per day. She was not allowed to have a shower or change clothes.
When Ms. Chen was released on September 7, 2013, she was not alert and was often in a daze. She could not have a normal life.
Husband’s 12-year Prison Term
Following the sentencing, Mr. Chen was taken to Nanchang Prison on December 21 without the knowledge of his family.
On January 5, 2007, he was transferred to Yuzhang Prison. As he refused to renounce Falun Gong, he endured all kinds of torture including isolation, beating, deprivation of sleep, and brainwashing. The long-term inhuman torture caused him to have a concussion and severe pain in the back and swelling in the legs. The inmates even cut the flesh off his thigh. The wound festered and the pain once caused him to lose consciousness.
Having barely survived the torture, Mr. Chen was finally released on March 28, 2018, only to see his wife arrested again twenty days later.
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