This archive preserves the source record behind the Chen Zhongli 陈忠丽 profile: the September 2025 doorbell-video detention in Datong, Shanxi; the formal arrest and reported mistreatment at the Chenzhuang Detention Center; the indictment, the closed-courtroom trial, and the three-and-a-half-year sentence of June 17, 2026, with provenance and limitations noted. Sources are graded; allegations remain attributed rather than stated as fact.
Falun Dafa Information Center — “Doorbell Video Shows Moment Shanxi Advocate is Apprehended by Plainclothes Police” (November 25, 2025)
(Falun Dafa Information Center / faluninfo.net, opened and read in full: https://faluninfo.net/doorbell-video-shows-moment-shanxi-advocate-is-apprehended-by-plainclothes-police/) Reports that doorbell footage shows Chen Zhongli (陈忠丽), an elderly mother in Shanxi, surrounded by multiple plainclothes officers moments before they forced entry into her home on September 5, 2025. She was detained by officers from the Gucheng Police Station in Pingcheng District, Datong; her home was searched and Falun Gong materials seized. The Pingcheng District Procuratorate approved her formal arrest on September 23; she was held at the Datong Chenzhuang Detention Center (大同市陈庄看守所), where family accounts describe beatings ordered by a guard during her first week, intimidation, and withheld necessities. The article notes her earlier advocacy (including a criminal complaint against Jiang Zemin and a 2016 detention for distributing flyers) and her heart conditions. Friends in North America were interviewed. Source grade: subject-community media (advocacy outlet for Falun Gong); detailed family-sourced account; attributed throughout.
Minghui — “Additional Persecution News from China – June 20, 2026 (8 Reports)” (July 8, 2026)
(Minghui.org, opened and read in full: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2026/7/8/235005.html) Item 4, “[Datong City, Shanxi Province] Ms. Chen Zhongli Secretly Sentenced to Prison”: arrested by Gucheng Police Station officers on September 5, 2025; home ransacked; formal arrest warrant issued by the Pingcheng District Procuratorate on September 23; case transferred to the Yungang District Procuratorate on December 1; indicted by prosecutor He Feng on December 26 and moved to the Yungang District Court. Tried on May 28 and June 16, 2026, with lawyer and family barred from the courtroom; sentenced to three years and six months on June 17, 2026. This is the primary sentencing report and the sentence-length anchor tying the Minghui case to the roster entry. Source grade: subject-community media; procedural milestones; attributed.
Minghui — “Additional Persecution News from China – January 1, 2026 (8 Reports)” (January 15, 2026)
(Minghui.org, from search-result record: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2026/1/15/232323.html) Item 1, “[Datong City, Shanxi Province] Ms. Chen Zhongli Facing Trial”: confirms the September 5, 2025 arrest, September 23, 2025 arrest approval, December 1, 2025 case transfer, and December 26, 2025 indictment — consistent with the sentencing report above. Source grade: subject-community media; procedural milestone; recorded from search-result text (page not re-opened this run).
Minghui — “Additional Persecution News from China – November 11, 2025 (8 Reports)” (November 22, 2025)
(Minghui.org, from search-result record: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2025/11/22/231415.html) Item 4, “[Datong City, Shanxi Province] Ms. Chen Zhongli Abused in Detention Center”: formally arrested by the Pingcheng District Procuratorate on September 23, 2025; police threatened to arrest family members if she did not admit guilt; detention-center guards instructed inmates to beat and verbally abuse her. Source grade: subject-community media; attributed; recorded from search-result text.
Minghui — “Additional Persecution News from China – September 15, 2025 (14 Reports)” (September 29, 2025)
(Minghui.org, from search-result record: http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2025/9/29/230032.html) Item 6, “[Datong City, Shanxi Province] Ms. Chen Zhongli Held in Detention Center”: earliest report — arrested at home after police pried open her lock; home ransacked; held at the Chenzhuang Detention Center. Source grade: subject-community media; attributed; recorded from search-result text.
Minghui — “Additional Persecution News from China – September 11, 2025 (12 Reports)” (September 25, 2025)
(Minghui.org, from search-result record: https://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2025/9/25/229978.html) Item 10, “[Datong City, Shanxi Province] Ms. Chen Zhongli Detained”: arrested by officers from the Gucheng Police Station and the Datong City Domestic Security Division at 10 p.m. on September 5, 2025; home ransacked; cell phone, computer, and Falun Gong–printed paper bills confiscated; held at the Datong City First Detention Center (an earlier-reported facility; later items place her at the Chenzhuang Detention Center). Source grade: subject-community media; attributed; earliest arrest report; recorded from search-result text.
YouTube — “Doorbell Video Shows Moment Shanxi Advocate is Apprehended by Plainclothes Police”
(YouTube short, from search-result record: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pDQ_mYetdK0) The doorbell footage described in the Falun Dafa Information Center article: Chen Zhongli being taken away; family testimony on confiscated belongings. Source grade: user-published video; visual primary record; unattributed-by-outlet.
维权网 — August 2026 monthly report, Issue 131 (August 31, 2026)
维权网《中国大陆在押政治犯、良心犯月度报告（2026年8月31日）第131期（共1638人）, EN edition. Independent Chinese-language rights-monitoring outlet. Lists “Chen Zhongli” in the “Sentenced to 3 years and 6 months, 126 people” group and in the C-section A–Z index — consistent with the June 17, 2026 sentence reported by Minghui. Supplies no biographical detail beyond the sentence and custody status; it is the source for her classification as in custody as of August 2026. Source grade: monitoring organization; single-source roster fact.
Source conflicts and limitations
The earliest Minghui item (September 2025) names the Datong City First Detention Center, while the Falun Dafa Information Center and later reports place her at the Chenzhuang Detention Center (陈庄看守所); this may reflect an early transfer and is recorded as an unresolved facility detail. Accounts of beatings and intimidation in detention come from the family via the Information Center and are attributed, not independently confirmed. No PRC official court record, procuratorate statement, or state-media report has been located for this case; no established international-media or recognized-NGO coverage beyond the outlets above has been located. The roster gives no cause detail beyond the sentence and custody status; the Falun Gong affiliation and full case history are community-media-reported and attributed accordingly. The 2016 flyer-distribution detention mentioned by the Information Center is recorded as continuity background, not independently re-verified.
Person profile: Chen Zhongli 陈忠丽