Rep. Good Advocates for Christian Religious Prisoner

WASHINGTON –As part of U.S. Representative Bob Good’s commitment to defend religious freedom, he is advocating for the release of a Chinese Christian religious prisoner of conscience Chen Yu through the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s Defending Freedoms Project, becoming his Congressional advocate.

“I will always stand up and fight for religious freedom and free speech. The Communist Chinese Party’s war on faith and free expression must end. I call on the Chinese government to immediately release Chen Yu and to cease all persecution of people of faith.” – U.S. Representative Bob Good.

Chen Yu is the owner of an online Christian bookstore who was detained on September 13, 2019, and arrested on October 18, 2019, for selling foreign-published books. On September 27, 2020, Chen was found guilty by the Linhai People’s Court and sentenced to seven years in prison and a 200,000 RMB fine.

The Communist Chinese Party confiscated Chen’s cell phone and ordered that the Linhai City Public Security Bureau destroy nearly 13,000 of his foreign-published books. Most sellers of foreign-published books receive a smaller fine or jail sentence; in particular, those selling Christian works have been increasingly targeted. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom found that Chen’s sentence is the most severe of its kind to date. His harsh sentence may be the Chinese government’s attempt to deter others from selling Christian books. He is currently appealing his sentence in court.

In addition to Rep. Good, PEN America, an organization dedicated to protecting the freedom of writers and the press, will also be an advocacy partner on behalf of Chen Yu.

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