Chen Yuzhen holding the “letter of notification of the obligations of those released on bail” taken outside the Public Security Bureau
Chen Yuzhen is a former student of Hainan Tropical Ocean University, 24 years old. Last June, he was taken away by the police for helping someone climb over the wall, and was placed on “bail pending trial” for the crime of “providing programs and tools for intrusion into and illegal control of computer information systems. He left China at the end of last year and is now studying at Kyung Hee University in Korea. Recently, he chose to open up his story to this station.
Twenty-four-year-old Chen Yu-zhen is from Anhui province and is currently a language student at Kyung Hee University in South Korea. Recently, he was interviewed by our reporter and told us about his encounter in China last year.
Chen Yuzhen, a music performance major at Hainan Tropical Ocean University, was an undergraduate exchange student at the Department of Applied Music at Truth University in Taiwan in 2016. He told reporters about the impact Taiwan brought him: “I was very grateful and thankful inside for that time to study and live in Taiwan. I felt like saying, ‘Oh, the world is not what I thought it was,’ and then various aspects also gave me a lot of inspiration and reflection.”
The experience of studying in Taiwan has turned Chen Yu Zhen from a “pinkie” into a supporter of freedom and democracy. After returning to Hainan Tropical Ocean University to continue his studies, he often commented on current events in his WeChat circle of friends and on Zhihu, which led to his Zhihu account being permanently banned. In addition, he developed the habit of “climbing over the wall” to access the Internet.
In June 2020, one of Chen’s actions brought him disaster. The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public.
The company’s main goal is to provide a good solution to the problem. I think some people may not be able to find it because some of the VPN sellers they find are scammers. Since I’ve already bought it and then I have a good one that works, I’ll go and recommend it to them.”
In the early morning of June 10, 2020, more than a dozen police officers broke into Chen Yuzhen’s house, confiscated his cell phone, asked him “if he had any foreign friends” and “if he had joined any groups,” and took him to the Haikou City Public Security Bureau for two days of interrogation. He was taken to the Haikou Public Security Bureau for two days of interrogation.
About the two-day encounter, Chen recalled that the police first took him to the hospital for a nucleic acid test. Due to his habit of staying up late and lack of sleep at that time, coupled with the hot weather and emotional tension, his body temperature was higher than normal during the test. As a result, the local detention center refused to accept him under the epidemic: “The general idea was that the detention center didn’t want to take responsibility either, and then he spent two days in the interrogation room and had no place to sleep at night.”
In those two days, the police interrogated him with fatigue: “asked a lot of questions, all kinds of questions, and then they gave a list, it was written on the ‘crime of providing intrusion into the computer information system programs, tools’, with this crime to me (charges).”
Eventually, because the detention center refused to accept, the police for Chen Yuzhen for “bail pending trial”, requiring him to pay a bond of 10,000 yuan. Chen Yuzhen said: “After returning home, out of what the city have to call him to report or something. Then (the police) will often call you to make a statement, often call you to go again.”
In the Haikou City Public Security Bureau issued to Chen Yuzhen “bail pending trial decision”, it is written that “the suspect may be sentenced to a fixed term of imprisonment or more, take bail pending trial does not lead to social dangerousness”, the decision letter is dated June 11, 2020.
He was worried about his “bail pending trial” status and the possibility of serving his sentence in the future. At this time, his visa to study in Korea was approved. As a result, Chen chose to leave China on December 31, 2020. After arriving in South Korea, he started a YouTube channel, “Mr. Chen is here,” in an effort to do what he can to spread the idea of freedom and democracy.
Li Dong, an international student from Yunnan who is studying humanities in Seoul, Korea, told reporters that Chinese dissidents living in Korea need to be prepared: “Like this student, if you have already had similar experiences in China, it is likely to be more difficult financially when you come over, because the cost of living in Korea is higher than in China. Then again, if the bank card is frozen, all aspects are not very convenient.”
However, Lee Dong also said that the Korean people are generally welcoming to Chinese political dissidents: “The Korean people’s attitude toward China is that it is a big country, and before that it was a relatively neutral and insensitive attitude. But after the new epidemic, there is a more hostile attitude toward China. Then, coupled with the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, it makes South Korea feel that China is (having) an authoritarian government.”
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