Chen Xuejin (陈学金) was one of five defendants in the 1990 Chenzhou case concerning the organization described in the court judgment as the “Democratic China Front — Mountain Branch” (民主中国阵线山地支部).
Primary-source case record
The Chenzhou Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court criminal judgment (1990) 郴一初字第88号, issued November 7, 1990, convicted five defendants of the crime of forming a counterrevolutionary clique (反革命集团罪). The judgment describes the group as drafting a program, assigning roles, recruiting members, creating an emblem, collecting dues, and distributing political leaflets.
Chen Xuejin was treated as a subordinate participant (accessory): the court found he actively took part in the group’s activities and offered advice. The judgment places him among the people who distributed the group’s leaflets on the nights of January 14 and 17, 1990. He received three years of imprisonment, calculated from March 4, 1990 through March 3, 1993, plus two years of deprivation of political rights.
Co-defendants Bai Xiaomao and Jiang Fuxing were found to be principal organizers (eight years each); Li Jinhong and Li Yumin were also treated as accessories (four years and one year).
Post-sentence life and death
The years after the nominal end of Chen Xuejin’s sentence are documented only through a 2023 interview report. According to that account — given by the widow of his co-defendant Li Jinhong — Chen lived under long-term surveillance after his release, suffered from depression, later became a Buddhist monk, and lived in poverty, ill but unable to afford medical treatment. The report states that he died of illness on December 3, 2019, and that Li Jinhong was prevented by Zhuzhou state-security personnel from attending his funeral. These details rest on a single interview source and have not been independently corroborated.
Evidence limitations
Pages 2 and 3 of the surviving judgment copy have not been recovered. The missing pages are expected to contain Chen Xuejin’s identity block — his age, gender, hometown and occupation are therefore unresolved and are not inferred here (an earlier working note attributed him a Chenzhou hometown; that attribution has no source and is withdrawn). No custody record, appeal record or release record has been located. No release is inferred merely from the sentence end date. The organization’s Chinese name in the judgment is read here as 民主中国阵线山地支部 (a separate working transcription rendered it as 民主中国华南山区支部); a higher-resolution reading of the judgment photograph would settle the transcription.
Identity note
陈学金 is a common name. This record is anchored to criminal case (1990) 郴一初字第88号 and the Li Jinhong co-defendant link; no same-name record should be merged without those anchors.
Sources
Hunan Province Chenzhou Prefecture Intermediate People’s Court, Criminal Judgment (1990) 郴一初字第88号, issued November 7, 1990, surviving photographed pages 1, 4 and 5; Women’s Rights in China (WRIC), “六四反革命遺孀攜女「走線」背後的故事” (Zhang Jing reporting, July 1, 2023), containing the co-defendant’s widow’s account (English edition at crchina.org).
Media profile & archive
The sources and evidence behind this profile are documented in the companion archive: Chen Xuejin / 陈学金 — Media Profile & Archive.