Case History: Yang Lin
On 24 November 2015 Yang Lin was setenced to three years in prison and four years' deprivation of political rights on charges of 'inciting subversion of state power'.
Yang Lin is a migrant worker who became involved in activities defending human rights following a workplace accident in 2006 which led him to begin petitioning higher authorities for a fair resolution. During the course of his petitioning he started helping others who were also seeking justice for the various wrongs they had suffered.
On 11 August 2013 it emerged that Chinese human rights defender Mr Yang Lin, missing since 12 June 2013, has been arrested on subversion charges. Yang Lin, an early signatory of Charter 08, is a migrant worker based in Shenzhen who has been involved in numerous activities defending human rights in recent years.
On 11 August 2013 Yang Lin's brother, Mr Yang Mingzhu revealed that his family had received a police arrest notice for Yang Lin on charges of 'inciting subversion of state power', dated 19 July 2013, according to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders Network. He is reportedly being detained in Futian District Detention Centre in Shenzhen. On 13 August Mr Li Jinglin, a human rights lawyer from Beijing who is acting for Yang Lin, was denied permission to see him.
On 12 June 2013 Yang Lin was taken away by police in Shenzhen, after which no information was provided as to his whereabouts or the reason he was detained. Earlier that month on a trip to Beijing, Yang Lin was intercepted by National Security Police and forcibly sent back to Shenzhen. Speaking about this incident later, Yang Lin reported that he had been severely threatened by police who warned him they could put him into a sack and throw him in the sea or bury him in the desert and make him 'disappear without a trace'.
For his work in defence of human rights Yang Lin has reportedly been administratively detained at least nine times, held in black jails numerous times and served a year's re-education through labour.
