(Minghui.org) Mr. Chen Deguang hasn’t lived a day without fear for the past 20 years. Because of holding firm to their shared faith in Falun Gong, Mr. Chen, his wife, daughter and son have been repeatedly arrested and detained.
Both Mr. Chen and his wife, Ms. Sheng Chunmei, were sentenced to nine years in 2013 for passing out information about Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual and meditation discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.
Ms. Sheng was brutally tortured at Gansu Province Women’s Prison, and her health quickly deteriorated. She suffered from gallbladder inflammation, high blood pressure, and diabetes, but the prison didn’t release her until she was on the verge of death. She passed away on October 12, 2017, only seven weeks following her release. She was 65.
To date, Mr. Chen, already 74, is still serving his term at Lanzhou Prison and is scheduled to be released in July 2020.
It’s reported that he is being monitored by two inmates. The guards once hung him up for 44 days. They also stomped on his hands, blew smoke at him, and bent his fingers.
Mr. Chen Deguang and his grandson
Repeated Detention and Family Separation
Mr. Chen and his family, of Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, began to practice Falun Gong in 1997. Mr. Chen quickly quit smoking and drinking. His rheumatoid arthritis also disappeared. Ms. Sheng credited the practice for curing her pancreatitis and heart disease. Their son and daughter also took up the practice.
After the communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in July 1999, Mr. Chen went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong in November 1999, but was arrested and beaten. Two of his ribs were broken.
Ms. Sheng also went to Beijing to appeal in March 2000, but was arrested and detained for 15 days.
The police kept harassing them after he was released, forcing Mr. Chen to close a deli store in August 2000, three months after he had opened it.
The whole family went to Beijing to appeal for Falun Gong two more times in October and December 2000. Their 13-year-old son witnessed the police’s brutal beatings of his parents. One officer also stepped on the boy’s face, legs and belly.
The boy later lived by himself for half a month while the rest of his family were detained.
Mr. Chen was given 1.5 years of forced labor in February 2001. His son, Chen Jianru, was forced to drop out of his elementary school. His daughter, Ms. Chen Shenghua, was expelled by her university.
Only one month after Mr. Chen’s incarceration, his wife and daughter, Ms. Sheng and Ms. Chen, were also arrested for giving up informational materials about Falun Gong. Ms. Sheng was given 2 years of forced labor and Ms. Chen was given 1.5 years.
While his parents and sister were all detained, Chen Jianru, the teenage boy, had to live by himself again. When Ms. Sheng’s salary was stopped a few months later, the boy was faced with an even more dire situation. Most of his neighbors distanced themselves from him and forbade their children from playing with him, fearing being implicated.
In December 2001, after spending nine months in the labor camp, Ms. Chen was forced to write a statement to renounce Falun Gong and then released.
Four months later, Ms. Sheng was also released after being forced to write the renouncing statement.
Mr. Chen came home in July 2002 after serving a full 1.5-year term, only to be arrested again three days later with his wife and daughter while attending a gathering hosted by local Falun Gong practitioners.
The three of them were sent to Gongjiawan Brainwashing Center, leaving Chen Jianru at home alone again.
In January 2003, worrying about Chen Jianru, the three of them were forced to write the statements to renounce Falun Gong against their will and returned home.
Latest Arrest, Trial and Sentencing
Mr. Chen and Ms. Sheng were arrested again on July 6, 2011 for distributing information about Falun Gong. The police beat him for half an hour, causing his leg and face to be severely swollen and bruised.
Mr. Chen was sent to Honggu District Detention Center the next day. His family went to the police station multiple times to demand his release, but to no avail.
The police attempted to send Ms. Sheng to Lanzhou City No.1 Detention Center, but she was rejected admission three times due to her heart condition. She was released on bail four days later.
Both of their workplaces suspended their pension shortly afterward.
Although the Lanzhou City Procuratorate twice rejected their cases, the police refused to release them and fabricated more evidence in attempts to send them to prison.
The police later submitted their case to Lanzhou City Procuratorate, which indicted them and forwarded the case to Lanzhou City Intermediate Court.
The intermediate court arranged a hearing in June 2012, but it never took place. With the rescuing efforts by the couple’s children and lawyer, the judge later agreed to dismiss their cases.
But the police still refused to release them. In addition, they forcibly sent Ms. Sheng to Lanzhou City No.1 Detention Center one month later, despite that she failed the physical examination again.
After the intermediate court dismissed their cases, Lanzhou City Procuratorate also returned their cases to the police in October 2012.
But the couple was still kept in detention.
When Ms. Sheng’s children visited her in November, they discovered that she was suffering from severe diabetes. They complained about the situation with officials from the detention center, only to be told that “it was no big deal.”
The police later submitted their cases to Honggu District Court, which soon indicted the couple and moved the case to Honggu District Court in February 2013.
The judge scheduled a hearing in March 2013, but only informed their lawyers three days ahead of time. With their family’s strong protest, the judge agreed to postpone the hearing.
The couple appeared in court on April 20, 2013. Two lawyers entered a not guilty plea for them.
Five months later, the judge sentenced both of them to nine years. He once revealed that the terms were determined by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, an extrajudicial agency tasked to persecution Falun Gong.
The couple appealed to Lanzhou City Intermediate Court, which upheld the sentence without having a hearing.
Related reports:
Gansu Woman, 65, Released from Prison on Medical Parole in Critical Condition
62-Year-Old Woman Imprisoned for Practicing Falun Gong, Loses Vision and Hearing Within a Year
Appeal Blocked after Elderly Couple Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison
Gansu Women's Prison: Practitioners Tortured and Hospitalized for Refusing to Be “Transformed”
Gansu Judge Upholds Original Sentence Without a Trial, Violating Chinese Criminal Law
Chen Deguang and His Wife Sheng Chunmei Illegally Sentenced to Nine-Year Prison Terms
Family Protests Honggu District Court Attempts to Try Mr. Chen Deguang without His Attorney
Lanzhou Trial: Prosecutor Unable To Answer Any Questions from Defense Lawyer
Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Chen Deguang Files Complaint Against Police for Interrogation by Torture
Mr. Chen Deguan from Lanzhou Detained for Over a Year; His Wife Arrested Again
Falun Gong Practitioner Mr. Chen Deguang Files Complaint Against Police for Interrogation by Torture
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