Illegal Publication

Hong Kong publisher and American citizen Wang Jianmin (王健民, aka James Wong) was released from Meizhou Prison in Guangdong Province on February 20, 2019. He had been granted a six year 11-day sentence reduction by the Meizhou Intermediate People’s Court in late January 2019. He was accused of publishing (in Hong Kong) and distributing (on the Mainland) politically sensitive magazines Multiple Face and New Way Monthly. He was convicted in July 2016 of illegal business activities by a court in Shenzhen and sentenced to five years and three months in prison. Upon release, Wang flew to the US on March 24, accompanied by his family. The clemency granted to Wang is an unusual piece of good news in the context of tense Sino-US relations. Over the last three years, Dui Hua has raised his name in over twenty prisoner lists.

Religious Crimes

Dui Hua received information from our Chinese interlocutors on the whereabouts of a female Falun Gong practitioner convicted of “organizing/using a cult to undermine implementation of the law,” in Shanghai. Tao Dafeng (陶达凤) will complete her ten-year imprisonment in July 2019 after receiving two sentence reductions that total two years. Tao is reportedly in good health.

In Hunan, authorities granted Zhu Yu’an (朱玉安) medical parole in June 2018. The female Falun Gong practitioner was convicted of “organizing/using a cult to undermine implementation of the law” and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in October 2016.

Bitter Winter, an online magazine on religious rights published in Italy, recently disclosed the sentencing of seven “Shouters” in Henan in 2015. Accused of disseminating banned religious publications, they were sentenced to three to thirteen years imprisonment. Six of them are still serving their sentences, including Liu Ruizhou (刘瑞周),Zhao Jincai (赵金才), Liu Jiachun (刘家春), Liang Baoyang (梁保洋), Zhou Fei (周飞) and Qiao Guiqing (乔桂青). The untraditional Christian sect has been declared a cult organization and banned by the Chinese government since 1983.  

Online Activism

Two activists were convicted of inciting subversion in December. A Guangdong court sentenced Zhen Jianghua (甄江华) to two years’ imprisonment in December. Zhen administered a website which shared news about human rights activists across the country and ran another website that helped internet users circumvent censorship. Jiangsu activist Sun Lin (孙林) was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and three years’ deprivation of political rights. Lin was accused of circulating online articles that discussed political issues and democracy as well as  chanting “Down with the Communist Party” at a community meeting of Communist Party members in Nanjing.

Labor Activism

Wei Zhili (危志立), Ke Chengbing (柯成冰) and Yang Zhengjun (杨郑君) were criminally detained by Shenzhen police during the reporting period, for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” The trio are the editors of the online magazine New Generation and are accused of reporting labor protests. Since January 2018, hundreds of Hunan workers have petitioned the Shenzhen government demanding medical compensation for contracting pneumoconiosis.

Environmental Activism

Chen Wuquan (陈武权) was sentenced to five-years imprisonment for “picking quarrels and promoting troubles” by a Guangdong court on January 9. The lawyer-turned-environmental activist led the campaign “War to Protect the Sea” in protest of land appropriation and reclamation that took place from October to December 2017 in Zhanjiang. Six other villagers were also arrested and sentenced to one to one and a half years imprisonment, respectively.

Inciting Subversion / Subversion

On January 28, after being held incommunicado for three and a half years, rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全璋) received his judgement. The Tianjin No.2 Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Wang to four years and six months imprisonment, with five years’ deprivation of political rights, for the crime of subversion. According to a previous indictment, Wang was accused of recruiting dissidents under the guise of legal training and using foreign funds to sensationalize certain cases.

A Hubei court issued the judgement for Liu Feiyue (刘飞跃) on January 29. The founder of the group Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch was sentenced to five years imprisonment for inciting subversion, with three years deprivation of political rights. The evidence against Liu involved articles published by his group that called for non-violent movements against the Chinese Communist Party, reports about stability maintenance, and cartoons about human rights violations.

A website operated by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate disclosed a case of endangering state security. A district-level procuratorate reported the case of Huang Meng (黄萌), a suspect in an inciting subversion case, to the Xi’an procuratorate of Shaanxi Province in September 2018. The specifics of Huang’s case are not known..

In February, Dui Hua received a response from the Chinese government on four prisoners. Quan Ping (Kwon Pyong, 权平), an ethnic Korean graduate from Iowa State University, was confirmed released in March 2018 after serving his one year six months’ sentence. He was indicted for inciting subversion for wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “Xitler” and “Xi-Bun” outside a government building in Jilin province.

China Democracy Party member Xie Changfa (谢长发) continues to serve his 13-year sentence in Chishan Prison. The outlawed opposition party has faced suppression since its establishment in 1998. Xie has not received any sentence reductions after being convicted of subversion in 2009. Xie reportedly refuses to demonstrate remorse. He is expected to finish his term in June 2021.

Illegal Business Activity

Ding Lixian (丁立先) is serving his five-year sentence in Shandong Weifang Prison. He was accused of using the printing company that he managed to print more than 60,000 publications containing political gossip and scandal about Chinese leadership. According to the response received, Ding has demonstrated remorse, followed prison regulations, and participates in labor. However, he has not yet received a sentence reduction. Ding is scheduled to be released in August 2021.