Case of Wuhan Human Rights Defender Zhang Yi Transferred to Procuratorate for Review and Prosecution

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On October 12, 2026，this website learned：The case of Wuhan human rights defender Zhang Yi，who was accused of “inciting subversion of state power” over a photograph，was transferred to the procuratorate on October 8 and entered the review and prosecution stage。

In the early period of his detention at the Lhasa City Detention Center，Zhang Yi suffered severe high blood pressure and fainted due to altitude sickness and an insufficient supply of medication to prevent altitude sickness，and his condition is currently temporarily stable。In addition，although his family deposited money for his personal expenses，Zhang Yi spent only 500 yuan in three months，and his meals and detention conditions are cause for concern。

In 1989，Zhang Yi was arrested for taking part in the June Fourth Democracy Movement，and was later sentenced to 2 years in prison。For more than 30 years after his release，he has continued to participate in civil rights activities，and to commemorate June Fourth。In July 2026，he was criminally detained in Lhasa for displaying a photograph of the Dalai Lama，and was later formally arrested on suspicion of “the crime of inciting subversion of state power”。He is currently being held at the Lhasa City Detention Center。

Zhang Yi’s résumé：Born on September 7，1965，from Wuhan City，Hubei Province，he studied at the Law School of Wuhan University’s Adult Education College，was an electrician at the Wuhan Water Supply Company in 1989，a democratic dissident，a former volunteer with the Wuhan Mutual Aid Association (group)，a rights-defending citizen，a human rights defender，and a Chinese political prisoner。

Because Zhang Yi participated in the “1989 Democracy Movement”，he was arrested by the authorities afterward and sentenced to 2 years in prison for “the crime of gathering a crowd to disrupt traffic order”，and sent to Hongshan Prison to serve his sentence；he was brutally tortured in prison，causing permanent deafness in one ear；after his release，because he continued to hold differing political views and for many years continued to commemorate “June 4” and engage in civil rights activities，the Wuhan authorities listed him as a key target for stability-maintenance surveillance；

In June 2018，he was placed in administrative detention by Wuhan police for posting a photograph of “Liu Xiaobo’s cenotaph” online and planning related commemorative activities；on December 30 of the same year, he was again violently intercepted and beaten by officers from the Dongxihu District police and Changqing Garden police station in Wuhan, at the entrance to the parking lot beside the “Luo Yutou” restaurant on Lanjiang Road in Hanyang District, Wuhan，for refusing to comply with the “stability-maintenance demands” made by public security domestic security police；

During the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020，as a volunteer with the Wuhan Mutual Aid Association (group)，whose purpose was to help the families of victims in Wuhan，he bravely gave multiple interviews to foreign media，actively calling for the rescue of Fang Bin (Fang Bin (CPPC number：00868) was secretly sentenced to 3 years for filming videos of the number of deaths in hospitals during the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan)、and expressing support for Zhang Hai and other rights-defending family members who had been arrested，for which he was warned、reprimanded and threatened by police more than ten times，to the extent that the Wuhan authorities once sought to gather information about him and frame him for “financial fraud” in order to silence him；during this period，his son Zhang Hongyuan also faced the risk of arrest for helping his father give interviews to foreign media and film videos of public protests against the lockdown being lifted，forcing his son to leave China alone in April 2023 and go to the Netherlands to seek political asylum；

In June 2026，he planned to travel to Tibet and Xinjiang，but the Exit-Entry Administration refused to issue him a border pass，and after repeated discussions with them，he was ultimately permitted to travel；on July 1, 2026，while he and his younger brother Zhang Xuan were traveling in Lhasa，both were suddenly taken away by police from Lhasa’s Chengguan District；his younger brother was released after giving a statement at the police station，but he was placed in administrative detention for 15 days，ostensibly because，while visiting Sera Monastery，he wanted to borrow a prostration mat from a Tibetan，but because they could not understand each other，he showed the other person a photograph of the Dalai Lama on his phone，which the police somehow learned about, and he was quickly taken away；on July 18，the 17th day of his detention，his younger brother received a call from Lhasa police saying that he had been criminally detained on suspicion of “incitement”，asking his family to transfer living expenses for him，and saying that the detention notice would be mailed to his family home in Wuhan a few days later；the family later received the detention notice, which stated that Zhang Yi had been criminally detained by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau on July 18, 2026, on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” and was subsequently formally arrested，and is being held at the Lhasa City Detention Center。

This website will continue to follow Zhang Yi’s situation。