Rights-Defending Mother and Daughter Arrested; Relatives Accuse Jiangsu Officials

Jiangsu rights activist mother and daughter, Xu Dongqing and Yang Li, went to Beijing in October 2024 to file a petition, but were arrested by the authorities of Jintan District in Changzhou City and have been detained since then. Recently, their family has filed a lawsuit against various departments of the Chinese Communist Party, demanding that local officials involved in the persecution be legally dealt with.

Xu Dongqing’s husband, Yang Guoliang, filed a lawsuit on January 8 to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party, the National Supervision Commission, the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security, hoping that these departments will change their “lying flat” style and legally deal with Jiangsu Province’s Minister of Social Affairs Tian Hong and Secretary of Changzhou Municipal Committee Chen Jihu, urging local authorities to stop the persecution and immediately release their seriously ill family members.

Xu Dongqing’s eldest daughter in Japan, Yang Caiying, read aloud the contents of her plea to Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping outside the Chinese Consulate General in Nagoya on January 27. She told the onlookers that her family members were persecuted and imprisoned by Jiangsu officials for seeking help from Xi Jinping.

Yang Caiying told Epoch Times, “Chen Jihu and Tian Hong ordered to intercept visits, preventing my seriously ill family members from seeking medical treatment, and now they have ordered the fabrication of false cases, resulting in the arrest and torture of my mother suffering from severe heart disease and my sister suffering from stage 4 kidney disease, in order to coerce them to give up their legitimate rights to petition for their rights. They have seriously violated the law and infringed on human rights.”

Over the past sixteen years, Xu Dongqing and Yang Li have been persistent in petitioning, accusing Jiangsu authorities of deceiving land requisitions. The Jintan Public Security and Procuratorate in handling large-scale cases of illegal land occupation and destruction of trees, falsely claimed that the land had been requisitioned as state-owned, and unlawfully refused to file cases.

Due to the unresolved land requisition issue, Xu Dongqing and Yang Li often took the opportunity to seek medical treatment in Beijing to also petition at the National Bureau for Letters and Visits of the Chinese Communist Party or to appeal to Xi Jinping in Zhongnanhai. As a result, they were ordered by the then director of the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau for Letters and Visits (now the Minister of Social Affairs of Jiangsu Province) Tian Hong and Secretary of Changzhou Municipal Committee Chen Jihu to intercept visits and prevent them from seeking medical treatment in Beijing. Xu Dongqing and Yang Li have been beaten, kidnapped, and detained numerous times by Jintan Public Security.

On October 12 and 19, 2024, Xu Dongqing and Yang Li were arrested by Jiangsu officials for trying to seek help from Xi Jinping in Beijing and have been detained at Changzhou Municipal Detention Center ever since.

According to Yang Caiying, due to torture in the detention center, Xu Dongqing’s knee joints were damaged, making her unable to walk independently; Yang Li’s kidney disease worsened, her creatinine levels soared, and she also developed heart problems, putting her in critical condition.

On January 28, 2025 (New Year’s Eve), during the holiday season, the deputy secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Jintan District, Liu Guoxin, despite the festivities, personally went to Yang’s house to direct and deploy surveillance personnel, ordering tighter monitoring of Yang Guoliang.

Yang Caiying said, “In order to cooperate with the illegal land requisition by the Jintan District government, Jintan ‘thugs’ from the Public Security and Procuratorate first framed and oppressed my family; after the petition issue arose, they repeatedly resorted to violence against my sister, my mother, injured my father, and following the authorities’ instructions, they detained my seriously ill mother and sister several times. Now, the Changzhou Municipal Procuratorate has officially joined the ranks of evildoers.”

“The Jintan Public Security Bureau and the procurators stationed at the Changzhou Municipal Detention Center have repeatedly deceived my illiterate mother, urging her to sign a confession with a slightly better attitude, promise not to petition in Beijing again, and then release her to celebrate the Lunar New Year,” she said.

Yang Caiying also pointed out that Article 52 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that trial, prosecution, and investigation personnel shall not collect evidence through illegal means such as threats or enticement, and shall not compel anyone to confess guilt. Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights stipulates that no one shall be compelled to testify against themselves or confess guilt. The Jintan Public Security and Changzhou prosecutors are forcing confessions, openly challenging judicial authority and international conventions.