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Cheng Yuan subjected to ill-treatment and forced labour in prison

Status: 
Ill-treatment and forced labour
About the situation

On 13 June 2023, family members met human rights defender Cheng Yuan at the Chishan Prison in the Hunan province. Cheng Yuan said he was subjected to corporal punishment and other ill-treatment when he was placed in a high-security ward of the prison between January and April 2022.

In early January 2022, Cheng Yuan's family were in constant communication with the Jinshi Prison in the city of Jinshi, in Hunan province, to request a visit to the human rights defender. However, the family never received a positive response. In the third week of January, the family was informed that the human rights defender was transferred to Chishan Prison, in the city of Yuanjiang, also in Hunan province.

Human rights defender Liu Dazhi was released on 22 July 2021 after completing a two-year sentence.

On 3 September 2021, Cheng Yuan's family telephoned the Intake and Dispatch Centre of the Changsha Municipal Prison and was told both Cheng Yuan and Wu Gejianxiong are there and have not yet been transferred to a prison. The person on the phone refused to disclose when they would be transferred to a prison to begin serving their sentence and to which prison.

On 20 July 2021, the families of human rights defenders Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong received a phone call from a person claiming to have been released from the detention centre, who shared a cell with the human rights defenders. This person said Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong have been convicted and sentenced to two and three years imprisonment respectively, but the sentence against Cheng Yuan remains unknown. In order to verify this information, family members called one of the human rights defenders' government-assigned lawyers, who told them that the human rights defenders were sentenced in the morning of 20 July 2021 and confirmed the same sentences for Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong, but refused to disclose the sentence Cheng Yuan received or provide the text of the verdict.

On 8 June 2021, family members of Cheng Yuan and Wu Gejianxiong went to the Changsha No. 1 Intermediate Court for the 21st time to inquire about the outcome of the trial of the two health rights defenders and Liu Dazhi. However, court officials again refused to provide any information. Phone calls have been made by family members of the health rights defenders to Judge Zhao Zhe, who is the presiding judge of the trial, but these calls were unanswered.

Health rights defenders Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi, and Wu Gejianxiong were tried in the first week of September 2020 at the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court. Their families were not informed about the trial until after it had taken place.

On 10 July 2020, Shi Minglei, health rights defender Cheng Yuan's wife, contacted the Changsha Municipal Procuratorate and was informed that her husband and two fellow defenders, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong, were indicted on 24 June 2020.

On 26 August 2019, the defense lawyers of Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong were informed by the state security bureau in Changsha, Hunan province, that prosecutors approved the formal arrest of the human rights defenders. The three human rights defenders, who are all members of the public interest advocacy NGO Changsha Funeng, have been in incommunicado detention since 22 July 2019 and are accused of “subverting state power” which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

About Cheng Yuan

Cheng YuanCheng Yuan (程渊) is the co-founder of Changsha Funeng and has over ten years of experience advocating for health rights, non-discrimination, and the empowerment of vulnerable groups, including persons living with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B patients, and persons with disabilities. He led and supported the impact litigation of several hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS discrimination cases, which fellow defenders said contributed positively to the dismantling of systematic discrimination based on health status in China. In 2013, Cheng Yuan and another lawyer led a HIV employment discrimination lawsuit in Jiangxi province, which resulted in an unprecedented, landmark court decision to award compensation to the plaintiff, who was denied a teaching position due his HIV-positive status. Cheng Yuan has also campaigned for an end to China’s One Child family planning policy and reform of the discriminatory household registration system.

16 June 2023
China - Cheng Yuan subjected to ill-treatment and forced labour in prison

On 13 June 2023, family members met human rights defender Cheng Yuan at the Chishan Prison in the Hunan province. Cheng Yuan said he was subjected to corporal punishment and other ill-treatment when he was placed in a high-security ward of the prison between January and April 2022, including the following:

When he refused to write “thought reports”, which are often required of political prisoners, he was made to stand still in a military posture for 12 hours daily;

  • He was denied access to clean tap water and forced to wash his dishes and clean himself using water from a squat toilet;
  • He was made to kneel and raise his hands before he was allowed to make phone calls to his family;
  • He developed haemorrhoids but the medicines sent by his family were not delivered to him;
  • Due to the poor quality of food served at the prison, he remains emaciated and weighs no more than 50kg. As a result of prolonged lack of nutrition, his teeth are also coming loose;
  • He was and continues to be subjected to forced labour, working for more than 12 hours a day;
  • His right to exchange letters with his family is still restricted.

Although Cheng Yuan was tried in September 2020, his family was only recently given the full text of the verdict, which was dated 20 July 2021. According to the verdict, the Changsha Municipal Intermediate People’s Court reasoned that Cheng Yuan and two other human rights defenders were guilty of “subversion of State power” because they participated in establishing civil society organisations, applying for and receiving foreign funding, implementing human rights projects, attending training courses overseas, and conducting capacity building workshops for labour rights defenders and human rights lawyers.

Cheng Yuan’s five-year sentence will end on 21 July 2024, to be followed by five years of “deprivation of political rights.”

27 January 2022
Human rights defender Cheng Yuan transferred to Chishan Prison

In early January 2022, Cheng Yuan's family were in constant communication with the Jinshi Prison in the city of Jinshi, in Hunan province, to request a visit to the human rights defender. However, the family never received a positive response. In the third week of January, the family was informed that the human rights defender was transferred to Chishan Prison, in the city of Yuanjiang, also in Hunan province.

14 December 2021
Human rights defender Liu Dazhi released

Human rights defender Liu Dazhi was released on 22 July 2021 after completing a two-year sentence. He now faces two years of "deprivation of political rights", which was included in his original sentence, and which practically often entails on-going surveillance and restrictions on freedom of movement and freedom of expression.

4 October 2021
Cheng Yuan transferred to prison

On 2 October 2021, human rights defender Cheng Yuan telephoned his older sister in China and informed her that he is now serving his sentence at the Jinshi Prison in Jinshi city in Hunan province. This is the first direct contact between Cheng Yuan and his family since he was detained in July 2019.

On the same day, Cheng Yuan's father also received in the mail a prisoner admission notice from the Jinshi Prison, dated 17 September 2021, indicating the human rights defender was transferred from Changsha to Jinshi Prison on 15 September 2021. The notice also indicates that the Changsha Municipal People's Court convicted Cheng Yuan for "subversion of State power" and sentenced him to five years in prison on 25 May 2021. The Jinshi Prison informed the family that due to COVID-19, all meetings between prisoners and family members are suspended until further notice.

9 September 2021
Families yet to receive verdict and confirmation of prison location for Cheng Yuan and Wu Gejianxiong

On 3 September 2021, Cheng Yuan's family telephoned the Intake and Dispatch Centre of the Changsha Municipal Prison and was told both Cheng Yuan and Wu Gejianxiong are there and have not yet been transferred to a prison. The person on the phone refused to disclose when they would be transferred to a prison to begin serving their sentence and to which prison. Earlier on 14 August 2021, human rights defender Cheng Yuan's family sent a letter to the Intake and Dispatch Centre to provide their latest mailing address and to ensure any official documents, including the verdict and the imprisonment notification, are sent to the correct address.

Cheng Yuan and Wu Gejianxiong were reportedly sentenced in early August 2021 to five years' and three years' imprisonment respectively. However, to date, the families of both human rights defenders have yet to receive either the official verdict or the notification confirming the location of prison where they will be serving their sentence, as required by law.

3 August 2021
Family unable to confirm verdict

On 20 July 2021, the families of human rights defenders Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong received a phone call from a person claiming to have been released from the detention centre, who shared a cell with the human rights defenders. This person said Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong have been convicted and sentenced to two and three years imprisonment respectively, but the sentence against Cheng Yuan remains unknown. In order to verify this information, family members called one of the human rights defenders' government-assigned lawyers, who told them that the human rights defenders were sentenced in the morning of 20 July 2021 and confirmed the same sentences for Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong, but refused to disclose the sentence Cheng Yuan received or provide the text of the verdict.

On 27 July 2021, Wu Gejianxiong's father Wu Youshui, himself a practicing lawyer, travelled to Changsha in an attempt to submit his credentials to be his son's legal counsel during the appeal process. When he arrived at the Hunan Provincial Department of State Security's detention centre, officials there told him that court approval is required for him to see his son. He then went to the Changsha Intermediate People's Court to submit his credentials, but court security officers told him they have been instructed not to allow him to enter the courthouse. After Wu Youshui left his credentials at the court's documents delivery desk, he stepped outside for a cigarette, but the court security officers immediately locked the front door and he was not able to go back in.

On 28 July 2021, Wu Youshui went to the law firm which employs the two lawyers assigned by the government to represent Wu Gejianxiong, to request a copy of the verdict. However, the lawyers refused to see him.

9 June 2021
Court refuses to disclose trial outcome and Liu Dazhi sick

On 8 June 2021, family members of Cheng Yuan and Wu Gejianxiong went to the Changsha No. 1 Intermediate Court for the 21st time to inquire about the outcome of the trial of the two health rights defenders and Liu Dazhi. However, court officials again refused to provide any information. Phone calls have been made by family members of the health rights defenders to Judge Zhao Zhe, who is the presiding judge of the trial, but these calls were unanswered.

The family members then went to the Detention Centre of the Hunan Provincial State Security Department to inquire about the well-being of the three health rights defenders. The detention centre told the families that it has not received any information concerning the outcome of the trial nor any request to transfer  Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong to a prison. It also said that Liu Dazhi is suffering from a stomach illness.

The family members are deeply concerned about the physical and psychological well-being of the three health rights defenders and urged the authorities to immediately disclose the outcome of the trial and ensure the defenders' rights to fair trial, and to communicate and meet with family and family-appointed lawyers.

11 September 2020
Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong secretly tried

Health rights defenders Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi, and Wu Gejianxiong were tried last week at the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court. Their families were not informed about the trial until after it had taken place.

On 11 September 2020, Cheng Yuan’s wife, Shi Minglei, visited the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court and was told by a court police official, who reached the presiding judge in the case on the phone, that the trial of the three defenders took place the previous week and that the trial had been “open to the public”. However, when Shi Minglei went to the court and asked an officer at the information desk to search for the names of the three defenders in the court’s electronic database, the officer said the search returned no results.

Since the detention of the defenders in July 2019, the lawyers appointed by the families have not been permitted to meet their clients, despite multiple requests. The lawyers were told in March this year that the defenders had “dismissed” them and that the government had assigned them new lawyers under the State’s legal aid scheme. The families believe that the dismissals were made under duress and contested the legality of the government-appointed lawyers. The State-appointed lawyers have never made contact with the families, despite multiple attempts by family members.

Front Line Defenders condemns the secret trial of the three defenders and the serious violations of their right to a fair trial. It is also deeply concerned about the participation of lawyers from private law firms who accepted the government’s appointment to “represent” the defenders against the will of the defenders’ families, which raises serious questions about the lawyers' compliance with domestic laws and regulations as well as international standards governing the professional conduct of lawyers. It calls on the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court to exonerate the three defenders, release them immediately, and provide compensation to them for their arbitrary detention.

14 July 2020
Indictment of Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong

On 10 July 2020, Shi Minglei, health rights defender Cheng Yuan's wife, contacted the Changsha Municipal Procuratorate and was informed that her husband and two fellow defenders, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong, were indicted on 24 June 2020.

Detained since 22 July 2019, the three health rights defenders were unable to consult their family-appointed lawyers. The authorities subsequently informed the family's lawyers that they were "dismissed" by their clients who are now represented by government-appointed lawyers. The Changsha procuratorate has failed to share the identity and contact information of the new lawyers with the families however, and as a result have been unable to obtain any updates regarding the legal process.

28 August 2019
Formal arrest of three health rights defenders

On 26 August 2019, the defense lawyers of Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong were informed by the state security bureau in Changsha, Hunan province, that prosecutors approved the formal arrest of the human rights defenders. The three human rights defenders, who are all members of the public interest advocacy NGO Changsha Funeng, have been in incommunicado detention since 22 July 2019 and are accused of “subverting state power” which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

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Cheng Yuan (程渊) is the co-founder of Changsha Funeng and has over ten years of experience advocating for health rights, non-discrimination, and the empowerment of vulnerable groups, including persons living with HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B patients, and persons with disabilities. He led and supported the impact litigation of several hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS discrimination cases, which fellow defenders said contributed positively to the dismantling of systematic discrimination based on health status in China. In 2013, Cheng Yuan and another lawyer led a HIV employment discrimination lawsuit in Jiangxi province, which resulted in an unprecedented, landmark court decision to award compensation to the plaintiff, who was denied a teaching position due his HIV-positive status. Cheng Yuan has also campaigned for an end to China’s One Child family planning policy and reform of the discriminatory household registration system.

Liu Dazhi (刘大志, also known as Liu Yongze刘永泽) joined Changsha Funeng in 2017 as a full time staff member. He is also a volunteer and co-founder of the Changsha Chunyu Mutual Aid Team, which campaigns for the rights of workers, victims of occupational diseases and their children, and other vulnerable groups in need of legal aid. In recent years, Liu Dazhi has filed formal requests for government information disclosures, as a means to hold local government offices accountable for environmental issues such as transparency of data on tap water quality and improper disposal of biomedical waste.

Wu Gejianxiong (吴葛健雄) is a human rights defender and a member of Changsha Funeng. He is new to the field of public interest law and his role at Changsha Funeng mainly involves working with lawyers.

When state security agents broke into Cheng Yuan’s home in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and took him away on 22 July 2019, they also put a black hood over and handcuffed his wife, Shi Minglei, and took her for interrogation overnight. Shi Minglei reported that during the interrogation the officers threatened to bring her three-year-old daughter along for interrogation and to further detain two other colleagues of Cheng Yuan’s if she did not answer their questions satisfactorily. The authorities also confiscated her identity documents, bank cards, cell phone, and computer. She was released but has now been placed under residential surveillance at her home in Shenzhen. On 8 August, police in Nanjing summonsed Cheng Hao, Cheng Yuan’s older brother, and interrogated him at a police station about his social media posts publicising his brother’s detention.

Since detaining the three human rights defenders at the Hunan Provincial State Security Bureau detention center, the Changsha authorities have repeatedly denied them access to their lawyers and families.

Front Line Defenders sees this case as part of a pattern of increasing harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders in China. It is particularly concerned by the serious accusation of “subverting state power” against the Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong, which allows the authorities broad discretion to deny access to legal counsel and keep them in extended incommunicado detention. Front Line Defenders believes the detention and formal arrest of the three defenders to be directly linked to their peaceful and legitimate work in promoting and defending human rights.

In 2015, UN member states, including China, committed to realising the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and in particular to achieving the goals of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, combating hepatitis, promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, and achieving "zero discrimination" against people living with HIV. As the current chair of the governance board of UNAIDS, China also has the responsibility to contribute to meeting the main goals of the organisation, which include protecting and promoting human rights. The legitimate activities of the three human rights defenders and their organisation contribute positively to achieving these important goals.