New York Resident Calls for Release of Sister Detained in China for Her Faith

Chen Jingyu calls for the release of her sister and all illegally imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners at a rally to commemorate the 25th anniversary of "4.25 Appeal" in Flushing, N.Y., on April 21, 2024. Dai Bing/The Epoch Times

Chen Jinghui, a certified public accountant from Changchun, a northeastern city of China, has been detained at the Changchun Detention Center since March for her belief in Falun Gong.

Recently, Ms. Chen’s sister, Chen Jingyu, made a public appeal for the immediate and unconditional release of her sister and all unlawfully detained Falun Gong practitioners at a rally in New York, commemorating the April 25, 1999, appeal.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a mind and body practice based on the universal principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. After the introduction of Falun Dafa in 1992, the practice spread to an estimated 100 million practitioners in China.

On April 25, 1999, thousands of Falun Gong adherents gathered in Beijing to appeal to the communist regime to release fellow practitioners who had been detained the day before.

Three months later, on July 20, 1999, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin launched a persecution campaign against Falun Gong. In June 2023, the number of Falun Gong believers documented to have died due to the persecution surpassed 5,000, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center but because of the difficulty in getting information out of China due to the regime’s control of information, the actual number of deaths is believed to be much higher.

Wu Shaoping, a Chinese human rights lawyer living in the United States, told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) persecutes Falun Gong because the universal principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance frighten the CCP.

Chinese human rights lawyer Li Ming (a pseudonym) stated that the CCP’s unlawful and inhumane nature is fully exposed with its persecution campaign against Falun Gong.

Unlawful Detention

In March this year, the police arrested Ms. Chen on her way out of her home, raided her apartment without a legal basis, and confiscated her computer and phone, among other items.

Chen Jingyu recounted what her sister and family members had endured during the persecution.

Ms. Chen, 55, graduated from Northeast Normal University. Around 2011, she began practicing Falun Gong, and her uterine fibroids quickly disappeared. Previously stubborn and irritable, she became calmer and more considerate.

Considering her positive experience with Falun Gong, she felt it necessary to tell people that this practice is completely different from what the CCP portrays in its propaganda. As a result, she became a target.

On Nov. 14, 2015, police arrested her for distributing Falun Gong informational materials at a shopping mall, and she was detained at the Weizigou Detention Center for 15 days.

On Feb. 28, 2017, when she returned home, she found her house had been ransacked.

To avoid police harassment, Ms. Chen rented a place even though she had her own home.

Around 8 p.m. on Sept. 17, 2021, the police and community personnel attempted to arrest her but failed. She was not at home at the time, and her son received harassing phone calls.

In mid-March 2023, police came to Ms. Chen’s house around 11 p.m. when only her parents were at home at the time.

‘The CCP Is Very Evil’

Cases like Ms. Chen’s are common in China today, said Mr. Wu.

“It is very righteous for the Falun Gong practitioners to adhere to their belief. It is inherently reasonable and legal, as are their own rights. But, the CCP deprives people of their fundamental right to belief.”

They’ve been illegally harassed, detained, and subject to so-called legal proceedings, “all common persecution methods of the CCP,” Mr. Wu added.

He admires the unwavering beliefs of Falun Gong adherents. “This is rare, considering the environment is so difficult, adverse, and extremely risky.

“With Chinese society in a state of collapse, Falun Gong practitioners’ persistence in their belief in ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance’ can help many people maintain their kind nature,” said Mr. Wu.

Adding that, “Under decades of indoctrination by the CCP, many Chinese people have distorted values ... People have lost their basic sense. Their sense of values has undergone serious confusion; there’s no right and wrong, and they can’t tell what is ugly, what is beautiful, what is moral, what is immoral.”

“The CCP is very evil by nature. It is a real cult, so this regime can only harm Chinese society,” Mr. Wu continued.

He said he believes that Falun Gong helps to purify people’s hearts, unite and bring them together, and this threatens the CCP’s rule. “I think this is the most important aspect of why the CCP suppresses Falun Gong.”

‘The Persecution Is Anti-Humanitarian’

Mr. Li said that the 25 years of persecution has been too long. “For 25 years, the CCP has been slandering and distorting Falun Gong, including the infringement of the personal freedom and physical persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, which really lacks legal basis.”

He explained that before the regime launched the persecution campaign against Falun Gong on July 20, 1999, the CCP police adopted so-called security measures, “using thug-like tactics to interfere, harass, and coerce Falun Gong practitioners into not participating in their practice,” he said.

After July 20, 1999, the Supreme Court issued an interpretation of Article 300 of the Criminal Law to convict Falun Gong to further the persecution.

“These are not suitable for Falun Gong because there is no explicit provision in the law that deems it a crime,” Mr. Li said. “There are no clear regulations. The law cannot regulate a person’s belief, it cannot discuss the nature of belief.”

Mr. Li stated that for more than 20 years, Falun Gong practitioners have been abducted, arrested, and sentenced like this. “I didn’t understand it before, but now I really do understand, it is indeed a form of abduction.”

In his view, the CCP does not have an authoritative or legally meaningful department to fairly judge Falun Gong. “It’s been a propaganda in the public opinion, and it is a defamatory propaganda, not objective, about Falun Gong. ... So for so many years, there has been no clear legal provision.”

Mr. Li revealed that between 2000 and 2001, the CCP issued some highly confidential documents, requiring public prosecutors, courts, and other units to “fight against Falun Gong,” and “treat these domestic religious groups with a wartime enemy-like tone.” He emphasized, “It is truly anti-humanitarian.”

Falun Gong practitioners attend a parade to call for an end to the persecution in China of their faith, in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., on April 21, 2024. Larry Dye/The Epoch Times

‘Extremely Worried’

Chen Jingyu told The Epoch Times that the detention center where her sister is being held has reportedly been renamed the Changchun Public Security Supervision Center.

Family members can only deposit necessities and money for Ms. Chen at the center, but no visit can be granted.

Chen Jingyu and her husband Zhang Ming were both subject to illegal detention for practicing Falun Gong. In 2016, the family of three was forced to flee China.

Now a resident in New York, she said, “In these 25 years, our family has lived a life of separation.”

Chen Jingyu expressed her most sincere concern for her sister’s health.

“I am extremely worried. Because I have personally experienced being illegally detained and persecuted. It was torture both physically and mentally, indescribable,” she said.

She said that their elderly parents were left unattended, and have now moved to a nursing home.

On April 21, when she called for the release of Ms. Chen and all unlawfully detained Falun Gong practitioners at the rally in Flushing, New York, she said, “People of justice around the world, stay away from the CCP!”

Li Jiesi and Luo Ya contributed to this report.