September 24, 2026 — Chengdu, Sichuan. Rights groups reported on September 23 that veteran rights activist and Early Rain Covenant Church member Chen Yunfei (陈云飞) had been formally arrested by authorities in Chengdu’s Wenjiang District on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
According to Weiquanwang, Chen’s relatives learned of the arrest from security authorities, but the family had not yet received a written arrest notice when the report was published. ChinaAid separately reported the same development and said Wenjiang District authorities had not publicly disclosed the specific factual basis for the accusation.
From administrative detention to reported formal arrest
Weiquanwang reported that Chen was detained on August 5, 2026 while traveling in Gansu Province and given 12 days of administrative detention. When that detention expired on August 17, he was transferred to Chengdu police and subsequently placed in criminal detention. On September 23, relatives were told that he had been formally arrested.
Long record of rights advocacy
Chen, born in 1967, participated in the 1989 democracy movement and later became a long-time rights activist. In 2015 he was detained after joining others in commemorating victims of the June Fourth crackdown. He was later sentenced to four years in prison and released in 2019. He was again detained in 2021 and sentenced to another four-year term, ending in March 2025, according to Weiquanwang.
What remains unconfirmed
Public reporting reviewed by Free China Movement does not yet establish the precise alleged conduct underlying the current accusation, Chen’s exact place of detention, whether the family has since received formal written notice, or the present status of access to counsel. These points remain open and should not be presented as independently established facts.