The five Canadian practitioners suing Chen are Zhang Kunlun, Jin Rong, Liu Wenyu, Zhu Ying and Fuo Zhaoxia. The court delivered the subpoena to Chen Zhili in person on February 8.

Chen Zhili has actively applied Jiang's policy of suppressing Falun Gong during her term as Minister of Education. She enforced the propaganda of slandering Falun Gong in the educational system, from elementary schools to colleges, forced students to sign their names against Falun Gong, and poisoned the minds of Chinese youth. Under the persecutory policies, in 2003 alone, there were at least 435 practitioners from 210 universities or colleges forcibly sent to brainwash classes, forced labor camps or even psychiatric hospitals, where they underwent brutal persecution. According to unofficial sources, as of January 29, 2006, nearly 150 teachers and students were persecuted to death in China. Such cases were scattered throughout the country.