Jiangsu Provincial People's Government Deprives Human Rights Defender Shen Aibin of His Right to Administrative Reconsideration and Right to Remedy Through a “Notice”

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On October 15, 2026, this outlet learned that the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government had deprived human rights defender Shen Aibin of his right to administrative reconsideration and right to remedy through a “Notice.”

On October 10, 2026, Wuxi human rights defender Shen Aibin received a “Notice” from the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government. It stated that Shen Aibin's application for disclosure of government information was an activity involving petitions, complaints, reports, consultations, and the like conducted in the form of a government information disclosure request, and on that basis deemed his application for administrative reconsideration of the “Notice” to fall outside the scope of administrative reconsideration prescribed by the Administrative Reconsideration Law of the People's Republic of China.

It is reported that, while Shen Aibin was serving his sentence at Liyang Prison in Jiangsu Province, Liyang Prison colluded with Wuxi Public Security and accepted in full a “confidentiality letter” from Wuxi Public Security, subjecting him to a series of gang-related abuses of power and persecution, including discriminatory, non-violent coercive supervision measures involving isolation and ostracism; attempts to harm him using extremely strong electromagnetic radiation; deprivation of his rights to communicate and to file complaints; unlawful seizure of more than 60 of his letters (which have still not been returned); Wuxi Public Security officers' direct theft of all his written materials from Liyang Prison; deprivation of his right to make family calls; abuse of power to deduct points and privileges; and torment and abuse in his daily life. These actions caused Shen Aibin to collapse several times and inflicted great harm on his physical and mental health.

After his release, Shen Aibin immediately filed a real-name complaint with the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Justice and the Provincial Prison Administration, accusing Liyang Prison warden Xu Guohong, deputy warden Jiang Jifeng, prison administration section chief Sun Wei, functional prison ward office director Zhang Wei, 32nd Ward instructor Lu Libin, deputy instructor Tao Tao, and police officer Ren Keming, who was awaiting promotion, of subjecting him to the aforementioned inhumane abuse of power and violence during his one year and four days in prison. However, the Jiangsu Provincial Prison Administration directly forwarded Shen Aibin's real-name complaint materials to Liyang Prison, allowing Liyang Prison to investigate itself and issue a response stating, “An investigation found the allegations to be untrue.”

Shen Aibin believes that the Jiangsu Provincial Prison Administration should, in accordance with the law, directly accept his real-name complaint and investigate Liyang Prison. Its act of forwarding Shen Aibin's real-name complaint materials to Liyang Prison violated Article 30, paragraph 1, of the Regulations on Petition Work: “For matters raised by petitioners that involve reports and complaints, disciplinary inspection and supervision authorities, or the authorities or entities with the power to handle them, shall receive, accept, handle and provide feedback on them in accordance with rules and laws.” It also violated paragraph 3: “It is prohibited to disclose or transfer petitioners' materials reporting or exposing wrongdoing, or related information, to the persons or entities being reported or exposed.”

To ensure that the Jiangsu Provincial Prison Administration accepted his complaint and investigated its contents in accordance with the law, Shen Aibin, citing Article 44 of the Regulations on Petition Work, which states, “Where an authority or entity responsible for accepting petition matters falls under any of the following circumstances, its superior authority or entity shall order it to rectify the situation; where serious consequences result, the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be dealt with seriously in accordance with rules and laws: (2) Failing to accept a petition matter that falls within its scope of authority;” and Article 46, which states, “Where a relevant authority or entity, or its leading officials or staff, falls under any of the following circumstances, its superior authority or entity shall order it to rectify the situation; where serious consequences result, the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be dealt with seriously in accordance with rules and laws; where a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law: (5) Disclosing or transferring petitioners' materials reporting or exposing wrongdoing, or related information, to the persons or entities being reported or exposed;” submitted an “Application for Performance of Statutory Duties” to the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government, requesting that it perform its duties of hierarchical supervision and management and carry out the statutory duties assigned to it by Articles 44 and 46 of the Regulations on Petition Work, namely, to “order rectification through the superior authority or entity,” and supervise the Jiangsu Provincial Prison Administration to directly accept, in accordance with the law, his real-name complaint against Liyang Prison.

Sixty days after the “Application for Performance of Statutory Duties” was acknowledged as received, Shen Aibin asked the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government to disclose information it had created and obtained in the course of performing its statutory duties in response to the “Application for Performance of Statutory Duties.” The Jiangsu Provincial Government issued Government Information Disclosure Application Response No. Su Zheng Ban Yi Fu [2026] 305 (see Attachment 1), astonishingly deeming the “Application for Performance of Statutory Duties” submitted by Shen Aibin to be “a matter raised that falls under the category of a petition,” and on that basis did not process Shen Aibin's disclosure request as an application for disclosure of government information.

Shen Aibin disagreed with the Jiangsu Provincial Government's response and applied to the Jiangsu Provincial Government for administrative reconsideration. As a result, the Jiangsu Provincial Government sent Shen Aibin a “Notice” (see Attachment 2), stating that his application for disclosure of government information was an activity involving petitions, complaints, reports, consultations, and the like conducted in the form of a government information disclosure request, and on that basis deeming his application for administrative reconsideration to fall outside the scope of administrative reconsideration prescribed by the Administrative Reconsideration Law of the People's Republic of China.

Shen Aibin believes that the “Notice” is not a statutory document provided for by the Administrative Reconsideration Law. It not only deprives him of his right to administrative reconsideration but also deprives him of his statutory right to seek a remedy. He said that he would bring legal action over the notice.

Attachments: 1. “Government Information Disclosure Application Response”; 2. “Notice.”