(Minghui.org) A former battalion commander was sentenced to a four-year prison term in February 2023, for his faith in Falun Gong. This is the fourth time that Mr. Chen Yinru has been convicted for his faith since the Chinese communist regime ordered the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999.
Mr. Chen, a 69-year-old Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province resident, used to be the battalion commander of the Thirty-eighth Regiment of the Tenth Tank Division. He worked as a client manager at an insurance company after he retired from the military. He took up Falun Gong in 1998.
Mr. Chen was first arrested in March 2004 for distributing informational materials about Falun Gong. He was sentenced to three years in the Wuxi Prison by the Suzhou Industrial Park Court on October 26, 2004.
Mr. Chen was arrested again on October 27, 2009, also for distributing Falun Gong materials. He was given another 3.5-year term at the Wuxi Prison in 2010 by the Huqiu District Court in Suzhou.
Following another arrest on August 18, 2016, Mr. Chen was sentenced to three years and nine months in the Suzhou Prison by the Suzhou Industrial Park Court on May 26, 2017.
His latest arrest was on May 19, 2022, after being reported for distributing Falun Gong materials in his hometown of Yancheng City. He was sentenced by the Dafeng District Court in Yancheng in early February 2023 and was taken to the Suzhou Prison. The 5,000 yuan deposit his family made for him to buy daily necessities in the local detention center was confiscated by authorities to pay his court fine.
Two Jiangsu Residents Released after Serving Time for Their Faith