Lin Minghua (林明华) is a petitioner and rights advocate from Shenyang’s Tiexi District in Liaoning Province. He has received three prison sentences on “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” or related charges; his latest reported term is three years and six months, imposed in September 2024.
Human-rights monitoring records identify Lin, born November 9, 1963, as the older brother of Shenyang rights activist Lin Mingjie (林明洁). The records link his petitioning to disputes over forced home demolition and compensation and describe repeated trips to Beijing to file complaints.
China Political Prisoner Concern (CPPC) reports that Lin was seized in Beijing in December 2016 after traveling there to complain about his brother’s detention. The U.S. State Department’s 2020 human-rights report also records that “Lin Mingjie’s brother, Lin Minghua” was detained and later sentenced by the Tiexi District Court to three years.
CPPC and the CHRD-affiliated prisoner database report another detention in September 2019. On August 14, 2020, the Tiexi District Court sentenced Lin to three years for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was released on September 30, 2022.
On December 28, 2023, monitoring sources report that Lin was seized again in Beijing by personnel from Shenyang. The CHRD/tenchu record states that he was tried on July 31, 2024 and sentenced on September 6, 2024 to three years and six months, with a term listed through June 26, 2027.
Rights Defense Network Issue 131, dated August 31, 2026, lists 林明华 in its three-and-a-half-year-sentence group. His current detention facility is not publicly established.
Sources: CHRD/tenchu prisoner database; China Political Prisoner Concern; U.S. State Department 2020 Country Report mirror; LiCAS, January 5, 2024; Rights Defense Network Issue 131.