Case History: Gu Yimin
At approximately 2.30pm on 3 February 2015, Mr Gu Yimin was reportedly surrounded by unidentified men in Changshu city, Jiangsu Province and forcibly abducted. His whereabouts remain unknown. Gu Yimin was released from prison on 30 November 2014 after serving an 18 month sentence for “inciting subversion of state power”.
On the afternoon of 6 February 2015 human rights defender Mr Gu Yimin was released, three days after he had been forcibly disappeared in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province.
Gu Yimin is a human rights defender who has taken part in various rights defence campaigns in his native Jiangsu province. Prior to his brief detention in February 2015, Gu Yumin had participated in the anti-corruption activities of the New Citizens Movement, a loose network of human rights defenders who campaign for constitutional government, for increased transparency among Chinese Communist Party officials and for greater equality within the education system. Many human rights defenders affiliated with the New Citizens Movement were arrested and faced judicial harassment.
On the afternoon of 6 February 2015 human rights defender Mr Gu Yimin was released, three days after he had been forcibly disappeared in Changshu City, Jiangsu Province. Gu Yimin had reportedly been detained in a guest house for three days and three nights by State Security agents from Changzhou city, in the same Province.
He was abducted on 3 February 2015 by unidentified men as he travelled to Suzhou city jail in order to enquire about five people who had been detained there. Gu Yimin was previously detained on 1 June 2013 after he planned a public gathering to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown. He had applied for permission to hold a protest and had also posted pictures of the crackdown online. He was put on trial in September of that year and found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
At approximately 2.30pm on 3 February 2015, Mr Gu Yimin was reportedly surrounded by unidentified men in Changshu city, Jiangsu Province and forcibly abducted. His whereabouts remain unknown. Gu Yimin was released from prison on 30 November 2014 after serving an 18 month sentence for “inciting subversion of state power”.
On the afternoon of 3 February 2015 Gu Yimin and a number of friends were travelling to Suzhou city jail in order to enquire about five people who had been detained there. On their way to the prison, they noticed that they were being followed by a car. After the human rights defender and his friends had stopped for lunch, a group of unidentified men reportedly surrounded them, identified Gu Yimin, and forcibly took him away. Before leaving, the unidentified men reportedly punctured the tyre of the vehicle Gu Yimin had been travelling in, in order to ensure that his friends would be unable to follow them. Gu Yimin's spouse, Ms Xu Yan, called his phone that evening without success and also phoned the Changshu City Public Security Bureau, who told her that they had not detained Gu Yimin.
Gu Yimin was previously detained on 1 June 2013 after he planned a public gathering to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown. He had applied for permission to hold a protest and had also posted pictures of the crackdown online. He was put on trial in September of that year and found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
