Court Notifies That the Trial Period in the Case of Hunan Zhuzhou Self-Media Writer Yin Jiangen, Arrested Across Provincial Borders for His Speech, Will Be Extended by Three Months

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On April 6, 2026, this website learned that Yin Jiangen (Bigen), a Hunan Zhuzhou self-media writer convicted for his speech, was arrested across provincial borders by the Hexian police and has remained detained at the Hexian Detention Center to this day. His case was heard in court in February this year, but no verdict was issued in court. Recently, Yin Jiangen’s defense lawyer received notification that the trial period for the case had been extended by three months.

The entire basis of the charges in the case against Yin Jiangen for his speech was that Yin Jiangen used the two accounts “Sunlight Beneath the Pen” and “That Ray of Light in Spring” to publish more than 450 posts on WeChat public accounts containing criticism and oversight of certain village and community Party secretaries, subdistrict offices, government departments, public security organs, courts and others.”

Yin Jiangen’s résumé: Born in 1965, from Hunan Province, residing in the Guihua residential compound in Hetang Town, Zhuzhou City; self-media writer; the name of his Weibo public-account blog is “Sunlight Beneath the Pen”; reporter for Legal Online; citizen defending rights; political prisoner detained in China.

Because he is an upright person and has long been committed to关注民生 issues, with the emergence and development of Generation Z (also called the “Internet generation” and the “online-born generation”), he began creating self-media platforms to expose current abuses and often wrote articles to speak out for many disadvantaged rights-defense groups in need of help;

On August 11, 2025, after he published on a self-media platform an article entitled “Anhui’s Hexian Again Reproduces Shandong Pingdu’s ‘Secretary Wang Li Version’; Secretary Liu Ying Is ‘One Better’ by Comparison,” which contained critical remarks about Liu Ying, secretary of the Party Committee of Liyang Town, Hexian County, Anhui Province, police from Hexian, Ma’anshan City, Anhui Province, crossed provincial borders and came to the residential compound where he lived in Zhuzhou City, Hunan Province, to forcibly demand that he delete the post; he refused, however, after which he was taken away by the Hexian police and contact with him was lost. His family and friends (including concerned netizens) made inquiries through various channels and finally learned 20 days later that he had been criminally detained by the Hexian police of Ma’anshan City on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and was being held at the Hexian Detention Center;

It is said that his arrest was connected to his repeated online reports, under the pen name “Sunlight Beneath the Pen,” about the “rights defense over the debt for bricks from the Second Brick Kiln Factory” case involving petitioner Chen Dezhen of Hexian County, Anhui Province, and his speaking out to clear Chen’s name and defend his rights. Chen had originally been a law-abiding farmer in Hexian County, Anhui Province, but merely because a debt dispute arose in 1995 over 90,000 red bricks from the local Second Brick Kiln Factory, the local Liyang Town government illegally transferred the creditor’s rights to a rubber company, forcing Chen to defend his rights for a long period. In 2021, Chen finally reached a brick-payment compensation agreement with the local town government, but afterward the town government broke its promise and failed to pay. Chen then went to Beijing to petition and was sentenced to one year. After his release, Chen was also administratively detained by police for 18 days because he posted on Weibo that local government official Liu Ying had made a false police report. Feeling deep sorrow and a sense of injustice over Chen’s experience, he wrote articles to help him and call for support, but unexpectedly this brought pressure and warnings from the authorities in Chen Dezhen’s home jurisdiction, Hexian County, Anhui Province;

On September 3, 2025, the lawyer representing him met with him at the Hexian Detention Center and, with his consent, submitted to the police and the local procuratorate applications for release on bail pending trial, for designated jurisdiction, and for supervision over the failure to approve his arrest, but all were rejected. On September 15, 2025, he was formally arrested by the Hexian County Procuratorate of Anhui Province on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” During his detention, after the lawyer went to the Hexian County Procuratorate to review the case files, the lawyer met with him; he said that he had been subjected to prolonged interrogation by the case handlers and had been required to confess guilt. In mid-December 2025, the case was transferred to the Hexian County Procuratorate for review and prosecution. After learning of the above circumstances, dozens of netizens initiated a joint petition and wrote to the People’s Procuratorate of Hexian County, requesting that it strictly conduct an independent, objective and impartial review in accordance with the law and make a decision not to prosecute him in accordance with the law. He is currently detained at the Hexian County Detention Center in Anhui Province.

This website will continue to follow developments in Yin Jiangen’s case.