Wuxi Xinwu District petitioner Zou Xiaoyan forcibly returned from Beijing by police and detained at home, deprived of her personal freedom

（(Rights Defence Network Information Center report) On October 10, 2026, this outlet learned: Wuxi Xinwu District petitioner Zou Xiaoyan was forcibly intercepted and returned from Beijing by police and detained at home, deprived of her personal freedom.。

On October 7, 2026, Zou Xiaoyan, a petitioner from Wuxi’s Xinwu District, arrived in Beijing, intending to report to the relevant departments that staff at the Beijing liaison office had slapped her eight times in succession and that the subdistrict had damaged her home. She also wanted to consult a Beijing lawyer about how to handle the matter. The Xinwu Branch of the Wuxi Public Security Bureau forcibly intercepted her in Beijing and took her back, citing as grounds that she had left Wuxi without reporting it while on bail pending trial. After she was taken home on October 8, the local Dongjiang Police Station arranged for people of unknown identity to unlawfully detain her at home and keep her under round-the-clock surveillance in shifts.。

It is understood that Zou Xiaoyan was driven to Beijing to seek redress because the subdistrict was attempting to forcibly demolish her storefront property on Xinan Road in Xinwu District, even though it was not within the demolition zone. During the period when she was abducted to the Wuxi Municipal Beijing Liaison Office (Jinghua Hotel) and unlawfully detained, staff at the Beijing liaison office slapped her eight times in succession. She was then abducted back to Wuxi and a criminal case was opened against her. Zou Xiaoyan has continually filed complaints and reports about this matter, but no department has ever accepted or investigated it in accordance with the law.。

To stop Zou Xiaoyan from petitioning in Beijing, the Xinwu Branch of the Wuxi Public Security Bureau opened a case against her on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, despite her having committed no unlawful or criminal act. It then deprived her of her personal freedom by placing her under the criminal coercive measure of bail pending trial.。

As a result, whenever Zou Xiaoyan leaves Wuxi, Wuxi police abduct her on the grounds that she has violated supervision and management regulations. This time, Wuxi police used this tactic to take her back.。

Wuxi rights defenders have also reported that abusing criminal measures to maintain stability has become a common thuggish tactic of the CCP authorities in Wuxi. For many years, to build a record of maintaining stability, the Wuxi Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Political and Legal Affairs Commission have directed the police to act as thuggish enforcers and carry out a series of abuses of power to attack and persecute rights defenders. Opening criminal cases against rights defenders despite there being no facts constituting a crime, then using criminal coercive measures to deprive rights defenders (criminal suspects) of their personal freedom in a disguised form, has long been a tactic commonly used by Wuxi police. Large numbers of rights defenders in Wuxi have suffered persecution through this tactic. Some have been placed under residential surveillance and bail pending trial year after year, with the two coercive measures alternated, until they submit or stop petitioning and pursuing their complaints.。

During major sensitive periods, after rights defenders placed under criminal coercive measures escape surveillance, Wuxi police use online wanted notices to hunt down petitioners. Anywhere in the country, petitioners who are checked by police or whose faces are scanned by the police Skynet surveillance system are immediately arrested by police.。

People in Wuxi currently being persecuted through this tactic include Zhu Zhengming (currently under residential surveillance), You Jianying (currently on bail pending trial), Xu Huizhu (currently on bail pending trial), Shen Aibin (currently on bail pending trial), Yan Xiangping (currently on bail pending trial), Pu Xingdi (currently on bail pending trial), Gu Xuexing (currently on bail pending trial), Wu Shiming (currently on bail pending trial), Yin Xijin (currently on bail pending trial), Shen Xiaoling (currently on bail pending trial), and Jiang Longmei (currently on bail pending trial).。

Preliminary statistics show that more than 200 rights defenders have been subjected to criminal cases opened by Wuxi police without any facts constituting a crime, as part of their abuse of criminal measures to maintain stability.。

The most egregious case involved the couple Pu Meifen and Ma Zhiqiang from Anzhen, Xishan District. Because they petitioned, the Xishan Branch of the Public Security Bureau repeatedly opened criminal cases against them year after year despite there being no facts constituting a crime, then confined the couple at home, with people stationed outside their door around the clock. Police delivered boxed meals for all three daily meals. Ma Zhiqiang, however, was a patient with advanced leukemia, and the hospital had issued critical-condition notices several times. The police ignored his condition and, in a display of utter inhumanity, confined him at home, where he could not receive timely treatment. After he was forced to sign a demolition agreement and residential surveillance was lifted, his condition worsened and he died. Next is Shen Jianqun, a petitioner from Binhu District. After police abused their power to open a criminal case against her for petitioning, she was placed under residential surveillance at home. Because she is a divorced woman, police assigned people to guard her at home. To prevent Shen Jianqun from communicating with the outside world, police sealed up every window in her home, and even her relatives were not allowed to visit. Shen Jianqun consequently developed severe depression, and her severe hypertension and diabetes both flared up, leaving her in a life-threatening condition. She was rescued from the brink of death several times, but police continued to detain her. To save her life, Shen Jianqun was forced to sign a demolition agreement, after which police immediately lifted residential surveillance. There is also Lu Fengjuan from Binhu District, whose property worth a huge sum was seized by the government during demolition. She persisted in petitioning and has been placed under residential surveillance three times. The police collude with the government and each time force Lu Fengjie to give up her substantial interests and sign an agreement.。