Li Qiaochu Returns Home After Completing Sentence
On 3 August 2024, woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu returned home to Beijing after completing a three-year and eight-month sentence at a prison in Linyi, Shandong province. Earlier, on 26 July 2024, an appeals court upheld the verdict and sentence against her.
On 4 February 2024, the Linyi Municipal Intermediate People’s Court in Shandong province convicted woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for “inciting subversion of State power” and sentenced her to three years and eight months in prison, to be followed by two years of “deprivation of political rights”.
On 19 December 2023, the trial of woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu took place at the Economic and Technological Development District Court in Linyi city, Shandong province. The trial concluded in the afternoon without a verdict, which will be announced at a later date. The woman human rights defender is facing the charge of “inciting subversion of State power”.
On 20 June 2023, the trial against woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu began at the Linyi Municipal Intermediate People’s Court in the Shandong province. The trial was not open to the public.
On 1 July 2022, a new lawyer has successfully met woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu at a detention centre in Linyi, Shandong province. Before this meeting, the Linyi authorities repeatedly rejected the defender’s other lawyer’s multiple requests to meet her. During this meeting, the new lawyer observed that Li Qiaochu continues to experience depression. The lawyer has asked the detention centre to ensure that the woman human rights defender has regular access to adequate medical care.
On 28 February 2022, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate, in Shandong province, formally indicted woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for “inciting subversion of State power” under Article 105(2) of the Criminal Law.
On 28 September 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate returned the case against woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu back to the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau for supplementary investigation.
On 13 August 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate confirmed that the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau has sent the case against woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for review by the prosecution. Under Chinese law, the procuratorate must make a decision on whether to prosecute the case within a month, and it may extend the deadline for another 15 days if the case is deemed “major” or “complicated”. It may also return the case back to the police for supplementary investigation.
It has been confirmed that the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate in Shandong province approved the formal arrest of woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu on 14 March 2021 for "inciting subversion of State power". She is currently detained at the Linyi Municipal Detention Centre. Her partner and fellow human rights defender Xu Zhiyong is also facing the same charge, and his case is also being overseen by the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau.
On 19 February 2021, Li Qiaochu's lawyer formally requested that the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau grant them access to see the woman human rights defender. The lawyer was informed that Li Qiaochu is currently being held in quarantine at a local hospital and will be transferred to the Linyi Municipal Detention Centre once the quarantine is completed
On 6 February 2021, Beijing-based woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu was detained on suspicion of “subversion of State power” and taken to Linyi city in Shandong province, where her partner and human rights defender Xu Zhiyong is also detained and facing the same charge. Li Qiaochu’s detention follows her disclosure of Xu Zhiyong’s torture and her advocacy actions targeting the Linyi authorities.
Li Qiaochu (李翘楚) is a feminist, researcher, and human rights defender who has advocated for the rights for workers, migrants, women, and human rights defenders detained in China. In December 2022, she was honoured with the Embassy Tulip award from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Beijing.
- Top
- About
- 3 August 2024 : Li Qiaochu Returns Home After Completing Sentence
- 6 February 2024 : Woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu sentenced to three years and eight months in prison
- 12 January 2024 : Family and lawyer barred from attending Li Qiaochu’s trial
- 21 July 2023 : Li Qiaochu’s trial suspended after court obstructs defence lawyers
- 4 July 2022 : New lawyer met Li Qiaochu and raised health concerns
- 18 March 2022 : Li Qiaochu indicted
- 7 December 2021 : Li Qiaochu denied bail and her health conditions worsened
- 29 September 2021 : Prosecutors return case to police for further investigation
- 16 September 2021 : Li Qiaochu allowed second meeting with lawyer
- 9 September 2021 : Police send Li Qiaochu's case to prosecutors for review
- 28 April 2021 : Li Qiaochu formally arrested, denied access to legal counsel
- 25 February 2021 : Li Qiaochu in quarantine in hospital
- 9 February 2021 : Woman Human rights defender Li Qiaochu detained
On 3 August 2024, woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu returned home to Beijing after completing a three-year and eight-month sentence at a prison in Linyi, Shandong province. Earlier, on 26 July 2024, an appeals court upheld the verdict and sentence against her.
On 4 February 2024, the Linyi Municipal Intermediate People’s Court in Shandong province convicted woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for “inciting subversion of State power” and sentenced her to three years and eight months in prison, to be followed by two years of “deprivation of political rights”.
Li Qiaochu (李翘楚) is a feminist, researcher, and human rights defender who has advocated for the rights for workers, migrants, women, and human rights defenders detained in China. In December 2022, she was honoured with the Embassy Tulip award from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Beijing.
In the verdict, the court said Li Qiaochu had helped fellow human rights defender and legal scholar Xu Zhiyong to set up and maintain a blog to which articles and essays on topics such as human rights, democratic reforms, and social justice movements were uploaded. The court ruled that these writings were aimed at “subverting State power”. In April 2023, another court in Linyi convicted Xu Zhiyong for “subversion of State power” and sentenced him to 14 years in prison.
The court also defended its decision to close the trial to the public and said it did so in order to protect evidence and other information classified by the police as “State secrets”. The court also rejected Li Qiaochu’s argument that testimonies obtained while she was detained under “residential surveillance at a designated location” should be deemed inadmissible because they were provided under duress.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the conviction and sentencing of woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu as it believes it is solely in retaliation against her peaceful and legitimate human rights work. We call on the relevant authorities in China to promptly quash the conviction and sentence against the woman human rights defender and immediately release her. Pending her release, the authorities should ensure she has regular and timely access to adequate medical care to address on-going health issues she has been facing since her arbitrary detention began in February 2021.
On 19 December 2023, the trial of woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu took place at the Economic and Technological Development District Court in Linyi city, Shandong province. The trial concluded in the afternoon without a verdict, which will be announced at a later date. The woman human rights defender is facing the charge of “inciting subversion of State power”.
Both Li Qiaochu’s father and only one of her two lawyers were barred from the courtroom. Since Li Qiaochu’s arbitrary detention in February 2021, the Linyi public security authorities have denied her family’s multiple requests to meet her at the detention centre.
On 20 June 2023, the trial against woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu began at the Linyi Municipal Intermediate People’s Court in the Shandong province. The trial was not open to the public.
One of the woman human rights defender’s two lawyers refused to submit to a body check, which she deemed to be unlawful, at the entrance to the courthouse and was thus denied entry. Her other lawyer entered the courtroom, but the judge denied his legitimate requests to summon defence witnesses, to gain access to evidence held by the prosecution, and to seek the recusal of officials with perceived conflicts of interest in the case. As a result of his inability to perform his duty as the defence counsel, the lawyer asked Li Qiaochu to dismiss him and exited the courtroom in protest.
Afterwards, the court informed the woman human rights defender’s family that the right of the two lawyers to represent Li Qiaochu had been revoked and the lawyers are no longer allowed to meet her. The trial is now suspended pending the appointment of new defence lawyers for Li Qiaochu.
Li Qiaochu continues to suffer from serious symptoms of depression and auditory hallucinations.
On 1 July 2022, a new lawyer has successfully met woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu at a detention centre in Linyi, Shandong province. Before this meeting, the Linyi authorities repeatedly rejected the defender’s other lawyer’s multiple requests to meet her. During this meeting, the new lawyer observed that Li Qiaochu continues to experience depression. The lawyer has asked the detention centre to ensure that the woman human rights defender has regular access to adequate medical care.
The authorities have yet to release any information concerning a trial in the case against the woman human rights defender, who has been detained since February 2021. In April 2021 and February 2022, independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council wrote to the Chinese government raising concerns about the arbitrary detention and prosecution of human rights defenders, including Li Qiaochu. The Chinese government’s short reply in April 2022 merely stated the defender was in criminal detention and under investigation, and fails to address any of the substantive questions raised by the UN experts.
During the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s visit to China in late May 2022, Li Qiaochu’s mother issued an open letter calling on the High Commissioner to pay attention to her daughter’s physical and mental health concerns as well as her rights to due process and fair trial. In her end-of-visit statement, the High Commissioner said she raised “a number of specific situations and issues of concern with the Government” and will follow up on them on a “sustained basis”, but failed to disclose whether she has sought meetings with the detained defenders, which cases she raised, or how the authorities responded.
On 28 February 2022, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate, in Shandong province, formally indicted woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for “inciting subversion of State power” under Article 105(2) of the Criminal Law.
In the indictment sent to the Linyi Municipal Intermediate People’s Court, the prosecutors accuse Li Qiaochu of “being deeply influenced by the subversive thoughts” of her partner and human rights defender Xu Zhiyong and for helping him to set up a blog to publish writings that “propagate thoughts that subvert State power and overturn the socialist system”. The indictment provides no further description of these writings nor does it explain precisely how they would subvert State power. “Incitement to subversion of State power” is punishable by imprisonment of five years or less. However, if a defendant is deemed to be a “ringleader” or whose offence constitutes “major crimes—concepts that are not defined by the Criminal Law—they could be sentenced to more than five years in prison.
In a letter to the Chinese government in April 2021, UN Special Procedures have criticised the vague and broad provisions of China’s Criminal Law, including article 105(2), and believe they fail to meet the principle of legal certainty. The UN experts also raised concerns about Li Qiaochu’s detention, stating that the charge against her appears to be related to the legitimate exercise of her right to promote and defend human rights, and of her right to freedom of expression and association.
On 3 December 2021, woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu talked to her lawyer via a video call. Earlier on 10 November 2021, Li Qiaochu was moved from the Linyi Municipal Detention Centre to a detainees' hospital elsewhere in the city to receive treatment for her auditory hallucinations. The hospital prescribed her new medication, but she said that she is not adjusting to it well and her auditory hallucinations have worsened. So far, her family has submitted to the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate three bail applications, but all of them have been denied. She also said that the conditions at the detainees' hospital are slightly better compared to those at the detention centre.
On 28 September 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate returned the case against woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu back to the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau for supplementary investigation. Under China's Criminal Procedure Law, the police must complete the supplementary investigation within a month and a maximum of two rounds of supplementary investigation are allowed.
The woman human rights defender's application for bail, submitted by her family, has been denied.
On 10 September 2021, woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu was allowed a second meeting with her lawyer. She said her auditory hallucinations have reduced in severity after taking medicines, and that the side effects of the medication have also lessened.
Her lawyer plans to submit a new bail application after the two previous applications were rejected. The woman human rights defender is currently detained in the East Ward, reserved for detainees, at the Linyi Municipal People's Hospital.
On 13 August 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate confirmed that the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau has sent the case against woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for review by the prosecution. Under Chinese law, the procuratorate must make a decision on whether to prosecute the case within a month, and it may extend the deadline for another 15 days if the case is deemed “major” or “complicated”. It may also return the case back to the police for supplementary investigation.
On 27 August 2021, Li Qiaochu's lawyer was allowed to meet her. The woman human rights defender said she is suffering from severe auditory hallucinations, and is taking medication to treat the condition. However, she said there are side effects as she has gained weight and experienced amenorrhea for two months.
It has been confirmed that the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate in Shandong province approved the formal arrest of woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu on 14 March 2021 for "inciting subversion of State power". She is currently detained at the Linyi Municipal Detention Centre. Her partner and fellow human rights defender Xu Zhiyong is also facing the same charge, and his case is also being overseen by the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau.
The Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau denied two requests made in February and March by Li Qiaochu's lawyer to visit the woman human rights defender, and also rejected the lawyer's bail applications.
In defence of her partner Xu Zhiyong's rights, Li Qiaochu previously challenged the actions of the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau by filing an administrative review in August 2020, initiating an administrative lawsuit in October 2020, and filing a formal complaint against Li Dengquan, the head of the Linyi Public Security Bureau in early February 2021, days before she was taken into custody.
In light of these complaints made by Li Qiaochu against the Linyi police prior to her detention, her lawyer argued that the Linyi police have a conflict of interest in the case that could undermine their ability to fairly handle the investigations. Subsequently, the lawyer submitted a formal request on 14 April 2021, for Li Dengquan and all other police officers at the Linyi Public Security Bureau to recuse themselves from this case, in line with articles 29 and 31 of the Criminal Procedure Law. Article 29 requires adjudicators, procurators and investigators to recuse themselves from a case if they have, among other factors, "an interest in the case" or have "another relationship with a party in the case that might affect the just handling of the case." The lawyer also contested the legitimacy of the Linyi police's jurisdiction and authority to investigate Li Qiaochu, who is a resident of Beijing and was still under provisional release pending investigation by the Beijing public security bureau at the time of her detention in February 2021.
On 19 April 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate rejected the lawyer's request for recusal on the basis that the reasons provided do not meet the conditions for recusal as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law. The procuratorate did not provide further, more detailed legal reasoning for the decision. On 23 April 2021, the woman human rights defender's lawyer requested the Linyi procuratorate to review its decision on the recusal request.
On 19 February 2021, Li Qiaochu's lawyer formally requested that the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau grant them access to see the woman human rights defender. The lawyer was informed that Li Qiaochu is currently being held in quarantine at a local hospital and will be transferred to the Linyi Municipal Detention Centre once the quarantine is completed. The Public Security Bureau has yet to respond to the lawyer's request, but said that it would guarantee Li Qiaochu's access to adequate food, warm clothing, and the medication she has requested.
On 6 February 2021, Beijing-based woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu was detained on suspicion of “subversion of State power” and taken to Linyi city in Shandong province, where her partner and human rights defender Xu Zhiyong is also detained and facing the same charge. Li Qiaochu’s detention follows her disclosure of Xu Zhiyong’s torture and her advocacy actions targeting the Linyi authorities.
Li Qiaochu (李翘楚) is a feminist, researcher, and human rights defender who has advocated for the rights for workers, migrants, women, and human rights defenders detained in China. After the Beijing authorities began to forcibly evict migrant workers from their residences in the winter of 2017, she along with other academics, civil society organisations, and volunteers collected and disseminated information to help the evicted migrant workers to secure new jobs and find affordable accommodation. Li Qiaochu also actively supported various #MeToo campaigns by compiling data, writing analyses, and posting them online. During the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, she joined a team of volunteers to provide free masks to sanitation workers and help women experiencing domestic violence during the pandemic. After public security officers began to detain and target human rights defenders, including Xu Zhiyong, associated with a small, private gathering of activists that took place in December 2019 in Xiamen, Fujian province to discuss rule of law and reforms in China, Li Qiaochu started to campaign online for the release of these defenders facing reprisals from the authorities.
On 5 February 2021, Li Qiaochu tweeted that a police officer surnamed ‘Guo’ from the Haidian District in Beijing asked her to meet him for “a talk” near her residence at 3:00pm the following day. On the morning of 6 February, before meeting ‘Guo’ she tweeted details of torture and ill-treatment suffered by Xu Zhiyong during RSDL in 2020. She became uncontactable after the scheduled meeting with the police. Her parents were later taken to a police station and shown a detention notice indicating she is suspected of “subversion of State power”. The police informed her parents that public security officers have taken Li Qiaochu to Linyi in Shandong province, approximately 650 kilometres south of Beijing.
On 21 January 2021, lawyers were allowed to talk via a video-link to Xu Zhiyong, her partner, for the first time, who revealed that the Linshu County Detention Centre, where he is currently held, provides severely inadequate food, both in quantity and qualtiy. He receives only one steamed bun per meal, and as a result the human rights defender is constantly hungry. The detention centre also sells food and other daily products to detainees at prices that are three times higher than the market prices. Recently, another human rights defender, Ding Jiaxi, who is also detained at the same location as Xu Zhiyong, also disclosed details of torture under RSDL in Shandong in 2020 and the lack of adequate food in the Linshu County Detention Centre.
On 31 January 2021, Li Qiaochu filed a freedom of information request to the Detention Centre demanding they disclose information regarding the provision of food to detainees, including the criteria used by the Detention Centre for determining the food portion for detainees and prices of goods sold to them; the identity and contact information of officials responsible for such determination, procurement, and oversight; and the Detention Centre’s budget and expenditure on food for detainees. On 2 February 2021, Li Qiaochu lodged a complaint before the Shandong Provincial Department of Public Security against the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau and the Linshu County Detention Centre for reducing food as a form of punishment against Xu Zhiyong and for violating standards stipulated by national authorities concerning food portion for detainees and prices of goods sold to them.
On 16 February 2020, hours after her partner and human rights defender Xu Zhiyong was detained in southern China, Li Qiaochu herself disappeared and was later confirmed detained under “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL), a form of enforced disappearance provided for by the Criminal Procedure Law where police have the power to detain someone in a secret location for up to six months without access to family or lawyer. In late 2020, she published a detailed account of her experience during four months of RSDL detention. Following her release from RSDL, local public security officers repeatedly summoned Li Qiaochu for questioning, accounts of which she also published on Twitter, and threantened her with detention if she continued to speak out online about Xu Zhiyong, who was also placed under RSLD in Shandong in 2020.
Front Line Defenders believes the harassment and latest detention of Li Qiaochu is a reprisal for her legitimate activities in defence of human rights, including the rights of other human rights defenders to freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.
