Supporters of human rights activities, which include their relatives and friends, reveal in various reports the fabricated testimonies the Chinese Communist Party's officials devised to keep them behind bars.
The National Catholic Register highlighted in its report two Chinese human rights activists that were imprisoned for more than a year. These are 31-year-old Li Qiaochu, a renowned Christian labor rights activist, and her 49-year-old boyfriend, Dr. Xu Zhiyong, the leader of the New Citizen's movement and a constitutional scholar.
Accordingly, Xu has been in and out of prison because of his human rights work. He was first imprisoned from 2014 to 2018 for disrupting public order. He returned to jail two years after for writing a letter that urged the resignation of Chinese President Xi Jinping for mismanaging the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Another reason he was imprisoned was for attending a meeting on democracy.
While Li was first imprisoned for publishing the writings of her boyfriend online last September 2019. Li was newly charged with inciting subversion of state power and working to overthrow the government's socialist system.
The new indictment charges were filed on February 28 by the People's Procuratorate of Linyi City at the Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province, which put her back in jail. When convicted, Li faces 15 years imprisonment. Authorities rejected her family's application for bail.
Li's close friend, Teresa Zhao, told the South China Morning Post that the charges were made up. Zhao claimed Li was imprisoned out of her relationship with Xu. Zhao also raised concerns that her friend is experiencing maltreatment in prison.
"Li would never have done anything illegal to incite the subversion of state power. I and her other friends call for a fair and objective trial," Zhao said.
"We are particularly worried about her physical and mental health, and if she is being abused in detention. We hope that she can be released on medical parole as her family has requested many times," she stressed.
The wife of imprisoned activist Ding Jiaxi, Luo Shengchun, shared the same sentiments to ChinaAid on Li's charges being fabricated. Shengchun disclosed that the witness named in Li's indictment letter, Zhang Zhongshun, told the labor activist's lawyer that he does not know her. Zhongshun also told Li's lawyer that he never made the testimony contained in the indictment charges.
PEN America Free Expression Programs Senior Director Summer Lopez revealed that Li has been suffering from heart disease, depression, and hypothyroidism while in prison. Lopez expressed fears that Li may be treated degradingly by the government.
"Li is being punished for having the temerity to refuse to be silent about the abuse that both she and Xu have suffered. We are particularly concerned about Li's health, and we fear that Li may be experiencing abusive and degrading treatment as we speak. We call for Li's immediate release, and for Linyi officials to reverse this unjust decision," Lopez said.
Li spent four months in secret detention in 2021. Then her lawyers raised in August 2021 that prison authorities suspended access to her medication. This led to several symptoms that included impaired consciousness and auditory hallucinations.
Li was given bail last January, during which she made public her experience while in detention. She said it involved constant abuse, 24 hours surveillance, and difficulty addressing her medical needs. She revealed through Twitter that Xu was severely tortured in April 2020 after he was transferred to another prison.
In addition, Li also said that Xu suffered in May 2020 for more than a week. She detailed that her boyfriend was tied to an iron chair for at least 10 hours a day with limbs immobilized that he had to struggle to breathe. He was also starved and deprived of water to drink. Prison authorities only gave him one small team bun for each meal. He was also hooded and forced to wear a heavy motorcycle helmet each time authorities transferred him in and out of his cell.
