陈素英 (Chen Suying) is a rights-defense petitioner from Liuhe District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and the wife of fellow petitioner 杨芝祥 (Yang Zhixiang).
In 2006, Chen and her family moved to Nanjing to make a living. On the evening of October 20 of that year, Yang was beaten and seriously injured while working at a vehicle repair shop. The police injury assessment first classified his injuries as light injuries, then downgraded them to minor injuries on reassessment — a finding the couple rejected. Their attempts to seek justice through the courts were unsuccessful at every level. Having lost his ability to work, Yang has spent years petitioning in Beijing, with Chen by his side.
On September 15, 2023, the couple visited the State Bureau for Letters and Calls in Beijing. Police handcuffed them and notified the local interception team, which escorted the two back to Nanjing, where they were placed under criminal detention. Their whereabouts were unknown for more than three days. The Chinese Human Rights Defenders Prisoners of Conscience database records her as detained on September 15, 2023, with her detention location unknown. No sentence, release, or further update has been recorded.
Sources: Chinese Human Rights Defenders Prisoners of Conscience database, record for 陈素英 (entered November 13, 2023); 维权网 (Rights Defense Network), September 18, 2023.
Note: a 2009 Zhejiang lead about a “Chen Suying” arrested in Jinhua, Zhejiang, concerns a different person (different province, 17-year gap) and is excluded from this profile.
Related media coverage: 陈素英 (Chen Suying) — Media Archive