Wuxi, Jiangsu human rights defender Shen Aibin sues Jiangsu Prison Administration Bureau over illegality of government information disclosure response; both Nanjing courts and the Jiangsu High Court refuse to accept the case

On May 13, 2026, this outlet learned that Wuxi, Jiangsu human rights defender Shen Aibin sued the Jiangsu Prison Administration Bureau over the illegality of its response to a request for government information disclosure, but both the Nanjing courts and the Jiangsu High Court refused to accept the case.

Before the Wuxi City Detention Center transferred Shen Aibin to Liyang Prison, it first sent Liyang Prison a “confidentiality letter” concerning Shen Aibin, secretly smearing, vilifying and defaming him. Liyang Prison accepted it in its entirety and, before Shen Aibin had even arrived, decided—after comprehensive assessment and on the basis of the “confidentiality letter” from the Wuxi City Detention Center—to subject Shen Aibin to discriminatory soft-violence custodial measures involving segregation and isolation. During his one year and four days of imprisonment at Liyang Prison, Shen Aibin was subjected to a series of gang-related abuses of power and persecution jointly carried out by Liyang Prison and Wuxi public security authorities in collusion (this outlet will report on the matter in detail at a later date), including segregation and isolation as soft-violence custodial measures, deprivation of his rights to communicate and lodge complaints, deprivation of family telephone calls, unlawful deduction of points, withholding of privileges, and attacks and attempts to harm him using high-frequency sound waves and ultra-strong electromagnetic radiation, among other means, doing everything possible to torture and abuse Shen.

When Shen Aibin was released after completing his sentence on April 30, 2025, Liyang Prison also confiscated, under the pretext of “retention,” a large quantity of Shen’s written materials. It also confiscated 67 letters that Shen had submitted in the ordinary course but that the prison had refused to mail—letters addressed to friends and family members, as well as to judicial authorities.

On June 17, 2025, Shen Aibin applied to the Jiangsu Prison Administration Bureau for disclosure of eight items, namely: 1. “The relevant institutional documents formulated by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning communications between prisoners and the outside world”; 2. “The relevant institutional documents formulated by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning the deduction of points for prisoners’ violations”; 3. “The relevant institutional documents formulated by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning prisoners’ making family telephone calls”; 4. “The relevant institutional documents formulated by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning prisoners’ visits”; 5. “The relevant institutional documents formulated by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning prisoners’ treatment and performance assessments”; 6. “The relevant institutional documents formulated and obtained by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning information related to prisons that prisoners produce or obtain during their imprisonment being classified as confidential information”; 7. “The relevant institutional documents formulated and obtained by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning methods of reforming prisoners during their imprisonment”; and 8. “The relevant institutional documents formulated and obtained by your organization and implemented by prisons throughout the province concerning prisoners’ rights and obligations during their imprisonment.”

On July 16, 2025, the Jiangsu Prison Administration Bureau issued a response stating in each instance that the information Shen Aibin had applied to disclose did not constitute government information. Dissatisfied with the responses, Shen Aibin separately filed administrative reconsideration applications with the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government. On October 15 of the same year, the Jiangsu provincial government issued reconsideration decisions unlawfully upholding the Prison Administration Bureau’s responses. As a result, on October 20, 2025, Shen Aibin filed eight administrative lawsuits with the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court by mail.

Strangely, on December 12, 2025, the Nanjing Intermediate Court returned all materials for the eight administrative lawsuits, including the statements of claim and all attachments, to Shen Aibin. It neither issued a ruling accepting or refusing to docket the cases within the statutory time limit, nor provided Shen Aibin with any explanation. See the returned EMS receipt (Attachment 1).

According to the Administrative Litigation Law, on February 9, 2026, Shen Aibin mailed the materials for the eight administrative lawsuits to the Jiangsu High People’s Court via EMS (receipt in Attachment 2), together with a “Letter Requesting Lawful Docketing” (Attachment 3), requesting that the Jiangsu High Court lawfully accept and docket the cases. Yet as of today, three months later, he has still not received either a notice of case acceptance or a ruling refusing to docket the cases from the Jiangsu High Court. There has been no word at all, in blatant violation of the law.

Attachment 1:

Attachment 2:

Attachment 3: