Ni Yulan and her family forcefully evicted from home
On the evening of 15 April 2017, a group of unknown men broke into the apartment of human rights defender, Ni Yulan (倪玉兰), forcibly removing the defender, her husband Dong Jiqin (董继勤), and their daughter from the family’s shared apartment. The three individuals were forced into two vans and dropped in an alley several kilometers away. This is the third incident of this nature that the family has faced this year and the eighth since 2013.
Ni Yulan is a human rights defender and a lawyer who has suffered government retaliation for her support of Falun Gong practitioners and victims of forced eviction. Her work as a human rights defender began in 2001, when Beijing authorities announced plans to demolish Ni Yulan’s neighborhood and forcibly evict its inhabitants. After organising community members against the forced evictions, the defender was disbarred from legal practice and sentenced to a year in prison. While incarcerated, Ni Yulan was beaten to the extent that she can no longer walk unaided. The defender was imprisoned again in 2008, also for her defence of victims of land eviction.
On the evening of 15 April 2017, a group of unknown men broke into the apartment of human rights defender, Ni Yulan (倪玉兰), forcibly removing the defender, her husband Dong Jiqin (董继勤), and their daughter from the family’s shared apartment. The three individuals were forced into two vans and dropped in an alley several kilometers away. This is the third incident of this nature that the family has faced this year and the eighth since 2013.
Despite her disbarment, the defender continued supporting victims of government eviction, offering case support and legal advice and in 2011, was awarded the Government of the Netherlands’ annual human rights defenders Tulip Award. Later that year, she was tried for fraud under accusations from Chinese authorities that she was illegally practising as a lawyer. She was sentenced with her husband to another two and a half years in prison.
Following Ni Yulan’s release in 2013, the defender and her family have been routinely monitored, followed, defrauded, and evicted from their homes without warning by police, landlords, and real estate agents. In several of these instances, real estate agents have informed the defender and her family that they were instructed to evict the family by local police.
The latest incident of harassment occurred at the beginning of April 2017, when the defender’s previous lease came to an end. Ni Yulan signed a contract for a new apartment, making a payment of over 40,000 RMB (~5,400 EUR) for several months. After the payment was made, the landlord informed her that the apartment was in a restricted housing unit, that the defender’s family had to vacate the building by 15 April 2017, and that only 8,000 RMB (~1,100 EUR) of their payment could be reimbursed. The landlord also stated that he had received pressure from the local police department in both the eviction and the refusal to reimburse the defender’s payment.
On 14 April 2017, the windows of the apartment were smashed and the electricity was cut off. At approximately 11.00pm on 15 April, a group of young men barged into the apartment, confiscated the family’s cell phones, and dragged the family members one by one into two vans waiting outside the building. The family was held there for hours and driven around the city, during which time Ni Yulan was injured on the back and ankle and her husband was injured on the head and leg. The family was left in an alley far from their old apartment and their belongings were removed from the apartment and left in the street.
Front Line Defenders condemns the ongoing abuse of Ni Yulan and her family by the Chinese Government, and believes its violent acts against the defender aim only to interrupt the defender’s peaceful work protecting human rights.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in China to:
1. Carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into the ongoing harassment against Ni Yulan, with a view to publishing the results and bringing those responsible to justice in accordance with international standards;
2. Immediately cease the harassment of Ni Yulan and her family, including the enlisting of landlords and real estate agents to cheat the family and force them from their home;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in China are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
