Henan rights activist Xing Wangli’s case recently came to trial, with a dramatic scene unfolding as the courtroom adjourned after forty minutes to hold a pre-trial meeting. The reason was that the victim in the case denied filing a report, instead accusing the police of “creating trouble.”
On May 13, Xing Wangli’s case was heard at the Xixian County Court in Henan. Prior to the CCP’s “Two Sessions” this year, on February 18, Xing Wangli was criminally detained for “alleged provocation and trouble” for hosting petitioners at his home. However, the indictment did not mention the gathering of petitioners at his home but referred to an old case unrelated to petitioning.
According to the indictment, satellite images in September 2022 revealed that after Xing Wangli’s family sold trees planted on farmland in 2017 and did not clear the roots, new tree seedlings sprouted. Village secretary Hong Jie organized personnel to clear the trees. Xing Wangli demanded compensation, and in 2024, Hong Jie transferred 3,500 yuan to Xing Wangli, while Cao Yuan Community secretary Guan Min transferred 14,000 yuan.
The Xixian County Procuratorate deemed this as “extorting property from others by force” and sought sentencing for “provocation and trouble.”
According to the indictment, the victims in this case are Hong Jie and Guan Min.
In response, Xing Wangli’s son Xing Jian said, “He destroyed our land, trampled the seedlings, should he not compensate? At that time, all compensations were stamped with official seals. The village party branch secretary brought an excavator to our house, dug up the roots, ruined the wheat, and then they compensated, and the matter was settled.”
“It was the police officer Chen Wanyi who actively approached the village party committee secretary Hong Jie to take his statement, listing him as a victim and witness. They didn’t even report to the police, meaning the public security is fabricating charges. During the trial, they didn’t even know what was going on.”
After the court session, the lawyer requested to play two recorded phone conversations, in which Xing Wangli’s wife Xu Jincui spoke with Hong Jie and Guan Min. In the recordings, Hong Jie swore, saying, “Whoever knows about the trial is not a mother’s child, whoever knows about tomorrow’s trial is not human. Whether it’s a personal relationship or official business, I truly have no idea about the situation. I don’t know anything about it, they fabricated some issue and came to ask, Chen Wanyi specifically came to ask about this. Whoever deliberately harms you is not human!”
Guan Min also said in the call, “Would I report him to the police?” After Xing Wangli was arrested, Xu Jincui worked alone in the fields during spring planting, exhausted and unable to get up, with several acres of land left unplanted. Regarding Xing Wangli’s arrest this time, Guan Min asked her to seek help from higher authorities.
Xing Jian said, “He was originally willing to proceed with the trial, but once the recordings were played by the lawyer, the court adjourned immediately. After just forty minutes in court, they decided to change the trial into a pre-trial meeting. They didn’t anticipate that the ‘victims’ had already denied filing a report, they won’t even fabricate evidence.”
It was introduced that the lawyer believed the case initiation was illegal as the so-called informant did not report the case. Additionally, the defendant Xing Wangli believed he was wrongly accused, the statement was not signed, and the police did not provide synchronized audio-video recordings. The lawyer believed the trial conditions were not met, proceeding with the trial would affect the fair trial of the case.
Considering the procedural issues that arose during the trial, the presiding judge adjourned the court session and announced a pre-trial meeting would be held at a later date.
Legal scholar Li Yuqing, based in the United States, said in an interview with Dajiyuan that the Xing Wangli case effectively ended in court, with the police being suspected of fabricating evidence. When the Chinese Communist Party’s judiciary authorities fabricate cases, they usually arrest individuals first, gather evidence later, essentially shooting an arrow and then drawing a circle around it.
“If any behavior constitutes a crime, it must have a harmful impact. For the police to fabricate a case, they need to create some evidence, create harm. In this case, the secretary’s family did not even claim harm, there was no victim, and the supposed victim says ‘I have not suffered,’ but they say ‘you have suffered,’ this is absurd,” she said.
Li Yuqing pointed out that when the police force testimony from individuals and fabricate cases, they and those involved in fabricating the case bear criminal responsibility. Therefore, the “victims” should also understand that cooperating in fabricating cases constitutes the crime of framing and malicious accusation, and may lead to criminal prosecution.
Li Yuqing believed the lawyer should argue for the innocence of the defendant, as the accused did not commit a crime. She suggested that the family members file complaints with higher authorities, such as the disciplinary committee and public security bureau, because they (the police) were illegitimately fabricating cases, which makes them worried as thieves often do.
Xing Wangli and his son Xing Jian are well-known rights activists in Xixian County, Henan. Since 2002, Xing Jian’s father, Xing Wangli, has endured one year of labor reform and four imprisonments, totaling nine years and eight months in prison, as a result of continuous petitioning work lasting over 22 years. This includes instances of being criminally detained pending trial, under surveillance residence, house arrest, illegal restrictions on personal freedom, and administrative detention, among others.
Xing Jian revealed that the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation was four and a half to five years. “He shouldn’t even be arrested for this case, as there is no victim here, everyone denies reporting, so how did they come up with this sentencing recommendation? So whether you petition or not, they will still target you, leaving you without a way out.”
Earlier reports by Dajiyuan stated that on February 18, several local petitioners stayed at Xing’s home overnight, and in the morning, Xing Wangli escorted them out. An elderly woman was pushed to the ground by stability maintenance personnel. Xing Wangli recorded a video and alerted the police, but an hour later, Xing Wangli was handcuffed and sent to the detention center.
Xing Jian stated, “Who doesn’t have two relatives or friends? You can’t even visit our home? The common people endure suffering and false accusations, being classified as terrorists, and they’re not even allowed to visit friends?”
In the face of natural disasters and man-made calamities in the country, with authorities arbitrarily creating wrongful imprisonments, Xing Jian believed that the social model created by the CCP is the most barbaric and primitive, resembling a society where people prey on one another, without following the law or reason.
“The corrupt officials are desperate and resorting to desperate measures; it’s the end of the Communist Party. There is no law anymore, nothing exists, the common people have no protection, it’s like the late Qing Dynasty, as the rumors say, the Communist Party is finished,” he said.