Sun Hongjie
Sun Hongjie was a journalist who became well known in Kuitun for exposing corruption and abuse of power in his writing. In a story shortly before he was killed, he suggested that the forced demolition of a dairy company building by a township government was to allow for the construction of homes for government officials.
Chinese HRDs face intimidation, harassment, house arrest, abductions, torture and imprisonment. They also work under very restrictive legislation, including laws which criminalize all unauthorized demonstrations and require government sponsorship for NGO registration, which is refused to any organisation touching on human rights issues. Widescale investigations into NGOs with links to overseas organisations took place in 2014 and 2015 resulting in harassment, detentions and forced closures.
