Case History: Liu Xizhen
Liu Xizhen reappeared on 21 November 2014 following seven weeks' enforced disappearance. On 23 October, she was placed in criminal detention in an unknown location on the charge of “causing trouble”. On the same day, police officers raided Liu Xizhen's house. On 24 October her husband, Mr Huang Hui Min, received police documents confirming her detention. She was brought to Yuan He police station and is currently being held in Xinyu Detention Centre in Jiang Xi province. Her whereabouts were unknown since her disappearance on 1 October.
Liu Xizhen is a human rights defender who has campaigned for Chinese Communist Party officials to disclose their assets and for the Chinese government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
On 23 October 2014, human rights defender Ms Liu Xizhen was placed in criminal detention on the charge of “causing trouble”. On the same day, police officers raided Liu Xizhen's house. On 24 October 2014 her husband, Mr Huang Hui Min, received police documents confirming her detention. She was brought to Yuan He police station and is currently being held in Xinyu Detention Centre in Jiang Xi province. Her whereabouts were unknown since her disappearance on 1 October.
On 1 October 2014, the human rights defender disappeared in Beijing, where she went to attend a protest against the continued detention and ill treatment of human rights defender Ms Liu Ping as well as a demonstration in support of protests in Hong Kong. While it is difficult to ascertain all details due to the ongoing detention, since her reappearance it has emerged that she may have been arrested at an intersection near Zhon Nan Hai (People's Republic of China state building) while attempting to hand over a petition and that she was subsequently brought back to Jiang Xi province and placed in a 'black jail' (an unofficial detention centre) for twenty days.
On 5 October 2014, Liu Xizhen's husband informed the China-based Rights Defence Network of the disappearance of his wife and his fears that she may have been detained.
Following Liu Xizhen's reappearance and her criminal detention, on 28 October 2014, Liu Xizhen's husband was threatened by the manager of the Xinyu Steel factory, where he also works, and was warned not to hire a human rights lawyer or a lawyer from outside of Xinyu. The manager also threatened Liu Xizhen's husband with imprisonment if he is found to be in contact with any human rights lawyers or human rights defenders.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern regarding the detention of Liu Xizhen and the threats against her husband. Furthermore, Front Line Defenders believes that these actions are solely related to Liu Xizhen's peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights.
As from the 3 October 2014 the whereabouts of human rights defender Ms Liu Xizhen are unknown. It is believed she is being held by police in an unofficial detention centre in Xinyu City, Jiangxi province.
On 5 October 2014 Mr Huang Huimin, the husband of Liu Xizhen, informed the China-based Rights Defence Network that his wife had been detained by police in Beijing on 1 October after going to the capital to protest. He said she had been escorted back to Xinyu City in Jiangxi province by Xinyu City officials based in Bejiing on 2 October. Huang Huimin believes Li Xizhen was then placed in an unofficial detention centre, or black jail, located in the city. The last contact he had with her was on 2 October when she called him to say that she had been abducted by Xinyu City officials and was being taken back to that city.
Both Liu Xizhen and Huang Huimin have been subjected to various forms of abuse because of their work in defence of human rights. In April 2013 the couple were taken into police custody and interrogated about their involvement in the campaign calling on Chinese officials to disclose their assets and for the government to ratify the ICCPR. During their time in custody, Liu Xizhen was reportedly slapped, handcuffed to a chair for 24 hours and deprived of sleep, while her husband was also handcuffed to a chair and locked in a steel cage overnight.
In October 2013, Liu Xizhen was placed under ten days' administrative detention to prevent her from appearing as a witness at the trial of fellow human rights defenders Ms Liu Ping and Messrs Li Sihua and Wei Zhongping in Xinyu City. At this time the police also raided the home of Liu Xizhen and Huang Huimin and confiscated a computer and two mobile phones. When the trial of the three human rights defenders resumed in December 2013 Liu Xizhen and Huang Huimin were placed under house arrest in order, once again, to prevent Liu Xizhen from being called as a witness.
On 1 March 2014, Liu Xizhen was detained in Beijing following a protest she participated in calling for “constitutional liberties” for the Chinese people. She was held for 30 days on a charge of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” before being released on bail. On 17 June, in the days before the verdicts in the trials of Liu Ping, Li Sihua and Wei Zhongping were announced, Liu Xizhen and Huang Huimin were abducted off the street by unidentified men. Liu Xizhen was reportedly held in a 'black jail' for two days where, she said, state security police beat her.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern regarding the detention and disappearance of Liu Xizhen. Furthermore, Front Line Defenders believes that these actions are solely related to Liu Xizhen's peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights.
