Case history: Su Changlan
On 26 October 2017, Su Changlan (苏昌兰) was released from the Nanhai Detention Centre, Guangdong, after serving a three-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power”. Su Changlan had been detained in the Nanhai Detention Centre since 27 October 2014.
Su Changlan is a prominent women's rights activist who has also been involved in a number of other human rights campaigns. She lost her job as a primary school teacher due to her support for the rights of those against land expropriation.
On 26 October 2017, Su Changlan (苏昌兰) was released from the Nanhai Detention Centre, Guangdong, after serving a three-year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power”. Su Changlan had been detained in the Nanhai Detention Centre since 27 October 2014.
On 3 December 2014, Su Changlan was formally charged with “inciting subversion” after having been in custody since 27 October 2014. The human rights defender was tried in the Guangdong Province, Foshan City Intermediate People’s Court over two years later, on 31 March 2017. Her guilty verdict and three-year sentence, which was dated from the first day of her detention, were announced on the same day as her trial. On 6 June 2017, the Court denied the human rights defender’s request for an appeal hearing.
According to media reports, Su Changlan’s lawyer submitted multiple requests for the human rights defender to receive medical parole for ailments contracted while in detention. All of these requests were denied.
Chen Qitang (陈启棠), a fellow human rights defender, tried on the same day as Su Changlan, continues to serve his four-years and six-month sentence in the Nanhai Detention Centre.
Front Line Defenders celebrates Su Changlan’s safe return home and urges the Chinese government to desist from its retaliatory actions against her peaceful work upholding human rights.
On 28 October 2014, the family of human rights defender Ms Su Changlan received confirmation that she had been placed in criminal detention accused of “subversion of state power”. However, they did not receive an official confirmation document and her exact whereabouts are still unknown.
On 27 October 2014 at 9:00 a.m., Su Changlan was detained and taken to Nanhai Guicheng local police station by four police officers. The police officers stated that the human rights defender was being questioned on the charge of “causing trouble”. Her house was later raided by the police. According to fellow human rights defender Mr Chen Qi Tang, the reason for this charge was a message that she posted online related to protests in Hong Kong. This is the third time in two months that Su Changlan has been questioned by police. She was previously questioned on 12 September and 5 October 2014.
During the search of her house, the police officers took three computers. Later on the same day, around 15 police officers arrived at the house as part of what they stated was a daily population check.
On 31 October 2014, Su Changlan's husband and her lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan visited a number of detention centres searching for the whereabouts of the human rights defender. Subsequently, the human rights defender's husband and lawyer went to Fuo Shan People's Procuratorate to file a lawsuit on her behalf. It has been eight days since Su Changlan was detained and her family still have not received the document of her detention and they have not been informed of her whereabouts.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern regarding the detention of Su Changlan and that her exact whereabouts are still unknown. Furthermore, Front Line Defenders believes that these actions are solely related to the human rights defender's peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights.
