Case History: Huang Kaiping
On 28 January 2015 human rights defender Mr Huang Kaiping returned to his home in Beijing, following a period of over three months' enforced disappearance.
Huang Kaiping was director of the Transition Institute, an independent think tank in Beijing that focused on economic and political liberalisation before it was forced to close by the Chinese authorities in 2015. The Transition Institute was founded in 2007 to carry out research into tax reform, business regulation and the development of civil society in China.
On 28 January 2015 human rights defender Mr Huang Kaiping returned to his home in Beijing, following a period of over three months' enforced disappearance.
On 10 October 2014, Huang Kaiping was taken from his home by police in Beijing. His family were not provided with any formal notification of his detention during this period, nor were they told where he was being detained, in contravention of Article 83 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China. This states that within 24 hours of the detention of their relative, a family member must be notified, except in cases where it is impossible to give notice or in cases involving terrorism or endangering state security. As his place of detention was unknown, lawyers were also unable to meet with Huang Kaiping for the 110 days that he was missing.
The whereabouts of human rights defender Ms Kou Yanding, who was taken by police on the same day as Huang Kaiping, remain unconfirmed. Earlier this month, Mr Guo Yushan, the founder of the Transition Institute, was formally arrested on charges of “illegal business activity”. The human rights defender was detained by police on 9 October 2014, one day before his colleagues were forcibly disappeared.
Two months after their detentions by police in Beijing, the whereabouts of human rights defenders Mr Huang Kaiping and Ms Kou Yanding remain unconfirmed. On 10 October 2014, both human rights defenders were separately detained, reportedly on charges of “creating a disturbance”. Since that time, neither defender's family has received any formal notification or documentation regarding their detention. While it is believed that Kou Yanding is being held in Haidian District Detention Centre in Beijing, the whereabouts of Huang Kaiping are unknown.
On 5 December 2014, Huang Kaiping's wife, Ms Zhou Qinghui, issued a statement on a social networking site in protest against the continued lack of information about her husband's detention. Likewise, Kou Yanding's family has not received any information about her detention, and family members and lawyers who have visited and called detention centres and police stations in Beijing in search of information have been repeatedly stonewalled. Article 83 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China states that within 24 hours of the detention of their relative, a family member must be notified, except in cases where it is impossible to give notice or in cases involving terrorism or endangering state security.
According to Zhou Qinghui's post, on the afternoon of 10 October 2014, police officers from the Haidian Branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau arrived at the offices of The Transition Institute and led Huang Kaiping away. That same day at around 10.30 p.m., police searched the couple's home and confiscated a number of items, including a computer and books. Having still received no formal notification of her husband's detention, on 15 October Zhou Qinghui went to a number of detention centres and police stations in Beijing searching for information, but all she was told was that Huang Kaiping was being detained in Beijing, but she was not informed of her husband's specific location. Since then, despite repeated efforts, she has had no further success in tracking down her husband's whereabouts.
Kou Yanding was detained on the evening of 10 October as she boarded a train leaving Beijing. She had only returned to Beijing that morning, having spent the previous two days in Hong Kong following a period of time in Taiwan. The specific reason for her detention is unknown.
On 9 October 2014, a day before Huang Kaiping's detention, the founder of The Transition Institute, Mr Guo Yushan, was detained. Front Line Defenders issued an urgent appeal on his case. His lawyer, Mr Xia Lin, was also detained a number of days later. There is no further information currently available regarding Xia Lin's situation. On 26 November 2014, the administrative director of The Transition Institute, Mr He Zhengjun, was also reportedly detained, as was a former employee, Mr Liu Jianshu, who had been managing a network of libraries in rural China. It is believed both are being detained at Beijing No.1 Detention Centre on charges of “illegal business activity”. Mr Xue Ye, a board director on Liu Jianshu's network of libraries was also detained on the same day. None of those mentioned above has been permitted access to lawyers in contravention of Article 37 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China. This states that lawyers are permitted to meet their clients in detention within 48 hours of filing a request, except in cases involving terrorism or endangering state security.
