Hubei Human Rights Defender Chen Jianxiong Remains Under Surveillance After His Release in April This Year

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On September 28, 2026, this site learned that Hubei human rights defender Chen Jianxiong remains under surveillance after his release in April this year. Video surveillance targeting him has been installed outside his residence. Around the Mid-Autumn Festival, several friends traveled to Chibi, Hubei, to visit him. They were all warned and told to leave, and several were questioned and warned by local police after returning home. Chen Jianxiong has been imprisoned three times, serving a total of 10 years and 2 months. He was released after completing his sentence on April 11 this year.

Chen Jianxiong (birth name Chen Jinxin) biography: Born in 1974, he is from Chibi, Hubei Province. His online name is Chen Jianxiong. He is one of the “Five Gentlemen of Chibi,” a practitioner of the Southern Street Movement, a democracy and rights-defending citizen, and a political prisoner.

Since 2013, he has participated many times in public solidarity activities in China. He has repeatedly courageously held up signs and unfurled banners to express political demands for democratic constitutional government. He is one of the outstanding representatives of the Southern Street Movement and has consequently been repeatedly subjected to detention, criminal detention, torture, and forcible eviction by Chinese Communist Party police;

On May 25, 2013, he was placed in criminal detention by local police on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” for promoting democratic politics in Chibi, Hubei Province, with Yuan Xiaohua, Yuan Fengchu, Huang Wenxun, and other democracy and rights defenders. He was released on bail on July 13;

On September 30, 2013, he and democracy and rights defender Xie Wenfei held a banner on a street in Foshan, Guangdong Province, calling for “the abolition of one-party dictatorship and the establishment of a democratic China.” Foshan police again placed him in criminal detention on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power” and held him at the Tianhe District Detention Center, where he endured severe torture. He was released on bail on October 30; in February 2014, he traveled to Qufu to investigate the truth about the abnormal death of Xue Fushun in Shandong, as part of an observation group, and was repeatedly beaten and driven away by police in Qufu;

In March 2014, he was placed in administrative detention by police for 15 days for traveling to Heilongjiang Province to support the “Jiansanjiang lawyers detention incident”;

In May 2014, he traveled to Wuhan to meet Buddhist monk Xu Zhiqiang with several friends, and was taken away by Wuhan police and again placed in criminal detention on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power.” He was released on bail pending trial on May 17;

In July 2014, he again traveled to Zhengzhou, Henan, to take part in a citizens’ solidarity action for the “Zhengzhou Ten Gentlemen incident,” and went to Jiaozuo, Henan, to support the “Zhang Xiaoyu couple police killing incident.” As a result, on August 1, 2014, police seized him near the No. 3 Detention Center in Zhengzhou. Chibi police in Hubei Province directly referred his case to the procuratorate, and he was arrested on suspicion of “disturbing public order” and held at the Chibi Detention Center;

On December 16, 2016, the Chibi City Court in Xianning, Hubei Province, sentenced him to 2 years and 8 months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”;

On December 31, 2016, he was released after completing his sentence. After leaving prison, his commitment to pursuing democracy only grew stronger;

On September 29, 2017, he and fellow rights defenders Yuan Bing and Liang Yiming went to the Domestic Security Protection Brigade of the Chibi Public Security Bureau to complain about the long-term surveillance and harassment he had faced since leaving prison. The meeting ended badly because of differences in views and a heated argument between the two sides; on October 3, he was again arrested and placed in criminal detention by Chibi police on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”; on November 8, 2017, the Chibi Procuratorate formally approved his arrest, and he was held at the Chibi Detention Center: on August 12, 2019, the Chibi City Court in Hubei Province sentenced him at first instance to 3 years and 6 months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”; he appealed; on October 28, 2019, the Xianning Intermediate Court upheld the original sentence on appeal; on April 2, 2021, he was released after completing his sentence. He had served his sentence at Xianning Prison in Hubei Province.

On April 12, 2022, Chen Jianxiong was again placed in criminal detention by local police and later arrested on the charge of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. He was subsequently indicted. His trial was held on June 9, 2023, but no verdict was announced. A verdict was issued on April 8, 2024, sentencing him to four years in prison, with his sentence ending on April 11, 2026. He had previously been held at the Chibi City Detention Center in Hubei. On July 24, 2024, he was transferred to Xianning Prison in Hubei Province to serve his sentence until its completion and his release.

This site will continue to follow Mr. Chen Jianxiong’s situation.