Among the Chinese political prisoners under Xi Jinping’s regime, #HuangQi is one of those who suffer the heaviest blow. In total, he would serve 20 years imprisonment in his life for his human rights work. In late 2016, he was detained and on 29 July 2019, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the charges of “deliberately leaking state secrets” and “illegally providing state secrets abroad”. On 17 September 2020, Huang Qi was finally allowed to host a short video call with his 87-year-old mother, the first time since he was detained in 2016. His mother found that his arms and legs were swollen and suspects he suffers from malnutrition.
Date of birth: 7 April 1963 Occupation: co-founder of Tianwang Center for Missing Persons (later renamed the Tianwang Human Rights Center, also known as “64 Tianwang”)
Date of detention: 28 November 2016 Location: Police took him away from his home in Sichuan Province Ground of detention: the original charge was “illegally providing state secrets abroad”. In September 2018, an additional charge “deliberately leaking state secrets”was placed.
Date of formal arrest: 16 December 2016 Date of Indictment: Unknown
Legal representation: Huang Qi’s two defense lawyers, Sui Muqing and Liu Zhengqing, had got their lawyers’ licenses revoked by the Judicial Bureau. When his mother Pu Wenqing contacted other lawyers, some informed her that the authorities would not allow them to represent Huang Qi, nor they would be allowed to meet with Huang.
Date of trial: 14 January 2019, secret trial Date of Sentencing: 29 July 2019. The Mianyang City Intermediate People’s Court in Sichuan posted the verdict without notifying the family. Verdict: Huang was convinced of “deliberately leaking state secrets” and “illegally providing state secrets abroad”. Sentence: Huang was sentenced to twelve years in prison, deprived of his political rights for four years, and confiscation of personal property of RMB 20000 Location of imprisonment: Bazhong Prison, Sichuan Province
Description:
Huang Qi graduated from Department of Information Engineering of Sichuan University. In 1998, he and his wife established an organization, with the mission to help counter human trafficking and rescued many victims (mostly women). The organization was first approved by the authorities. Later it was expanded to report against human rights abuses, criticize current affairs and speak out for the grassroots people and became a thorn in the eye of the authorities.
Huang was recognized as the first cyber-dissident in China. He was first detained in 2000, shortly before the 11th anniversary of June 4th Massacre and sentenced for five years on “subversion” charges for posting human rights-related information. He was again arrested in July 2008 for “illegal possession of state secrets" and “subversion” after he reported on the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. In November 2009 he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. In 2016, he was awarded with Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Award. In late 2016, he was detained and on 29 July 2019, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the charges of “deliberately leaking state secrets” and “illegally providing state secrets abroad”. Among the Chinese political prisoners under Xi’s regime, Huang is one of those who suffer the heaviest blow. He would serve 20 years of imprisonment from the three sentences mentioned above.
Due to torture, beatings and poor living conditions in the previous two prison terms, Wang suffered from hydrocephalus, brain atrophy, heart disease, nephritis and other diseases. When he was arrested for the third time, his kidney function deteriorated and his blood pressure was high. The detention centre was suspected of falsifying his blood pressure records in order to conceal his condition, denied him his medical treatment and disallowed him to take medicine. Huang’s lawyer applied for medical bail on his behalf three times, but the authorities rejected them all without grounds.
On 17 September 2020, Huang was finally allowed to host a short video call with his 87-year-old mother, the first time since he was detained in 2016. His mother found that his arms and legs were swollen and suspects he suffers from malnutrition.
Huang’s mother Pu Wenqing published an open letter in April 2020, stating that she was under surveillance, not allowed to go to Beijing, to be interviewed by media, to get in touch with other people who are making complaints against the authorities, to hire lawyers of her choice for Huang Qi. In previous years, she was forced to disappear, to be placed under house arrest and officials even lived in her house to supervise her. She wrote in her “final words”, that she wishes to live long enough till Huang Qi is set free again.
