Shandong Zaozhuang State Security Police Attempt to Frame Rights Defender Zhang Chao, Who Was Criminally Detained

(Report by the Information Center of the Rights Defense Network) On June 13, 2026, this outlet learned that Shandong Zaozhuang rights defender Zhang Chao (Dharma name: Shi Daoguo) went to the area outside the fence surrounding Tiananmen Square on June 4 to take photographs and post a poem of remembrance to his Moments feed (which was blocked shortly afterward). In the early hours of June 5, he was taken away from Beijing by a team led by Shandong Zaozhuang State Security Police. He was subsequently criminally detained by the Shanting Branch of the Zaozhuang Municipal Public Security Bureau and held at the Zaozhuang No. 1 Detention Center (Yuelou Village, Shizhong District, Zaozhuang City), postal code 277102, telephone 0632-3657450. In an attempt to fabricate charges against Zhang Chao, Shandong Zaozhuang State Security Police went to multiple locations in Shandong to try to contact and persuade people in civil society circles to testify that Zhang Chao had posted inappropriate remarks on overseas platforms such as Twitter or Facebook), but were categorically refused.

Zhang Chao: Male, born in 1970, Dharma name Shi Daoguo, a rights defender from Zaozhuang, Shandong. He became politically awakened while working in Beijing in his early years and has spent many years promoting the ideas of online democracy. In 2014, he was detained for 37 days for sending rights defenders in Beijing alerts about arrests and searches. He later shaved his head, became a monk, and traveled throughout the country. During his Buddhist practice and studies, he nevertheless did not forget online enlightenment or assisting fellow activists in distress, to the extent that every temple where he stopped was soon driven to expel him. On July 24, 2019, Zhang Chao was arrested by the Shanting Branch of the Zaozhuang Municipal Public Security Bureau and was immediately criminally detained on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

Regarding Zhang Chao's circumstances, this outlet will continue to follow the case.