Wuxi human rights defender Shen Aibin remains under official surveillance after being released on bail pending trial

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On June 17, 2026, this outlet learned that Wuxi human rights defender Shen Aibin remains under official surveillance after being released on bail pending trial. The camera installed outside his home has still not been removed; his two reports to the police have not been acted upon.

Shen Aibin was targeted by the authorities for providing free legal assistance to petitioners; he was imprisoned three times, serving a total of seven years, during which he was tortured; he was released after completing his sentence in April 2025.

On October 27, 2025, Shen Aibin was beaten by police at a police station, lost consciousness for a time, and was diagnosed at a hospital with a fractured nasal bone and a head injury; on October 31, however, he was criminally detained again; on November 30, 2025, he was placed under residential surveillance at home; on May 30, 2026, this was changed to release on bail pending trial.

Shen Aibin’s Résumé: Born on October 15, 1973, a native of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, a former serviceman, formerly the head of the urban management enforcement team of the Wuxi Xishan District Urban Management Bureau, a rights-defending citizen and citizen journalist, he has repeatedly been detained and sentenced by the authorities for defending his rights.

On June 23, 2013, after rescuing five people in a timely manner, including an 82-year-old woman, together with Ding Hongfen, Shen Guodong, and more than 20 others, who had gone to rescue petitioners illegally detained in a “black jail” at the local Dongjiao Hotel, he was taken from his home by police from Wuxi’s Binhu District on June 26; on July 3, he was criminally detained by local police on suspicion of “the crime of gathering a crowd to disturb social order” and subjected to interrogation under torture; on August 6, he was formally arrested by police; later, after the Binhu District People’s Procuratorate of Wuxi determined that there was insufficient evidence and returned the case for further investigation twice, he was released on bail pending trial on March 18, 2014; on May 19, 2014, he was criminally detained again over the “2013.6.23 rescue of black-jail victims incident,” held at the Wuxi No. 1 Detention Center, and later formally arrested on suspicion of “the crime of intentional destruction of property”; on November 27, 2014, he was sentenced by the Binhu District Court of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, to one year and six months in prison for the same offense; after completing his sentence and being released from prison on March 12, 2015, he continued to defend his rights, while repeatedly being subjected by the authorities to persecution including illegal surveillance, following, detention, and summonses; on April 13, 2016, amid the reemergence in Wuxi of the April 13 mass detention of petitioners, he was again criminally detained for 37 days on suspicion of “intentional injury,” and immediately placed under residential surveillance after his release; on August 23 of the same year, fearing that he would continue defending his rights during the G20 summit, Wuxi police administratively detained him for 10 days; on September 2 of the same year, police continued to criminally detain him on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” after which he was formally arrested; on May 27, 2017, he was sentenced at first instance by the Binhu District Court of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, to two years and six months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”; on January 23, 2019, he was released after completing his sentence; on June 24, 2021, he was again criminally detained by police from Wuxi’s Liangxi District on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and was not released on bail until July 24 of that year.

On March 6, 2022, he was again summoned and his home was searched by police from Wuxi’s Liangxi District, after which he was criminally detained on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and held at the Wuxi No. 1 Detention Center; on April 5 of the same year, he was placed under residential surveillance at a designated location by police from Yixing, Wuxi, on the same charge; it was reported that his arrest this time may have been related to his attention to the abnormal death of Mao Lihui, a petitioner from Jiangyin City, after she was intercepted and taken to a black jail. On September 20, 2023, Shen Aibin was sentenced to three years in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and was released after completing his sentence on April 30, 2025.

On the afternoon of October 27, 2025, Jiangsu Wuxi rights activist Shen Aibin was violently beaten by police at Dongting Police Station of the Xishan Branch of the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau, at the direction of the station’s deputy director, Dai Feng (police ID No. 221928). He was diagnosed at a hospital with a fractured nasal bone and a head injury, and was later hospitalized at Jiangnan University Affiliated Hospital in Wuxi. At 11 a.m. on October 31, 2025, Shen Aibin was again criminally detained by the Liangxi Branch of the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and his home was searched. He was immediately taken to the Wuxi Detention Center. On the afternoon of November 30, Shen Aibin was released from the Wuxi Detention Center and is currently subject to the compulsory measure of residential surveillance at home by the Liangxi Branch of the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau. On May 30, 2026, this was changed from residential surveillance to release on bail pending trial.

This outlet will continue to follow Shen Aibin’s situation.