Case history: Liu Di
On 5 June 2014 human rights defenders Messrs Hu Shigen and Xu Youyu and Ms Liu Di were released on bail. The three had been detained, along with human rights defenders Messrs Pu Zhiqiang and Hao Jian, on 4 and 5 May 2014 following their attendance of a private commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and subsequent violent crackdown.
Liu Di is a human rights defender, blogger and democracy activist. In 2002 and while still a university student, she became one of the first 'cyber activists' to be arrested for her online writings which were critical of the Chinese Communist Party and was held in custody for a year on charges of subversion.
On 5 June 2014 human rights defenders Messrs Hu Shigen and Xu Youyu and Ms Liu Di were released on bail. The three had been detained, along with human rights defenders Messrs Pu Zhiqiang and Hao Jian, on 4 and 5 May 2014 following their attendance of a private commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and subsequent violent crackdown.
The three human rights defenders had been held on charges of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". Pu Zhiqiang and Hao Jian remain in custody, along with many other human rights defenders who were detained in advance of the 25th anniversary of the protests. Ms Liang Xiaoyan, a participant in the 1989 protests who was also detained, was released after questioning.
On 4 and 5 May 2014 a number of human rights defenders in Beijing were taken in for questioning by police following their participation in a commemoration of the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
Human rights lawyer Mr Pu Zhiqiang, detained on charges of “causing a disturbance,” and Mr Hu Shigen are being held in at Beijing No.1 Detention Centre, while Messrs Xu Youyu and Hao Jian, and Ms Liang Xiaoyan and Ms Liu Di remain out of contact.
On 3 May 2014 the aforementioned human rights defenders, in addition to a number of others, gathered at a private residence in Beijing to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the crackdown on protests in Tiananmen Square. In a statement released after the meeting, participants, who included relatives of those killed during the protests, called on the Chinese government to launch an official investigation into the events in 1989 and to compensate the victims. They also released a photograph of themselves standing behind a banner saying, “2014 Beijing June 4 Anniversary Seminar.”
On 4 May 2014, at around 11pm, Pu Zhiqiang was summoned for questioning about the event by police. At around 4pm on 5 May, his home was searched and a mobile phone, a computer and books were reportedly seized. Police in Beijing subsequently released a statement saying that he had been detained on charges of “causing a disturbance.” Pu Zhiqiang is a well-known human rights lawyer who has taken on a number of freedom of speech cases and who himself participated in protests in 1989.
