[Series Report (4)] The CCP Wuxi’s Inhumane Atrocities Against Human Rights Defender Shen Aibin: His Minor Daughter Was Implicated, Persecuted and Sentenced

On November 16, 2020, the Liangxi District Court of Wuxi issued Criminal Judgment No. (2020) Su 0213 Xing Chu 564 (because a minor was involved, the judgment and the charges were not made public), sentencing Shen Aibin’s minor daughter to two years and eight months in prison. After an appeal, on December 30, 2020, the Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court issued Criminal Ruling No. (2020) Su 02 Xing Zhong 366, ruling to reject the appeal and uphold the original judgment.

This case was deliberately plotted and initiated by Zhou Jun, then director of the Liangxi Branch of the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau; deputy director Zheng Bangxian; and Shen Qi, head of the Legal Affairs Brigade, in order to attack, suppress and retaliate against Shen Aibin. It was a blatant case of bending the law for personal ends, judicial corruption and implicatory persecution, manufactured by Wuxi’s criminal judicial elements for the purpose of retaliation and entrapment and by means of wrongful adjudication. It is ironclad evidence of the inhumane criminal atrocities committed by the CCP’s criminal judicial elements in Wuxi.     

I. How the case came to light:

In April 2020, the epidemic in Wuxi was severe, all schools across the city suspended classes, and Shen Aibin’s daughter was also suspended from school and stayed at home. On April 6, a classmate invited her to go out, but there was nowhere to go, so several classmates agreed to get a room at a hotel. After several classmates arrived at the room, one classmate brought along a little girl whom none of the others knew (the victim in this case, Sha, who was also a minor). After a while, that classmate left, leaving the little girl whom everyone else did not know at the hotel. Because the little girl had a phone without a SIM card, she wanted to use other people’s phone hotspots to access the internet. Moreover, while everyone was resting, the little girl disregarded the need for a quiet environment and continued making noise. As a result, everyone gradually found the little girl annoying and began to dislike her. They asked her to leave several times, but she would not go. That evening, several male classmates came over to play. The girls mentioned that the little girl was very annoying and was refusing to leave. The boys then asked the little girl to leave, but she still refused and began arguing with them. As a result, one of the boys hit the little girl, and several of the girls also assaulted her, including Shen Aibin’s daughter.

II. How the case was handled:

On the morning of April 7, 2020, the little girl left the hotel and borrowed someone else’s phone to call her mother. After her mother arrived, she discovered that her phone was missing, so she reported to the police that the phone had been snatched. After investigating, Tongjiang Police Station of the Liangxi Branch of the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau discovered that Shen Aibin’s daughter was among those involved and immediately reported it to the branch.

On April 8, 2020, police officer Cai Jue of Tongjiang Police Station notified Shen Aibin by telephone to bring his daughter to the police station. Shen Aibin immediately brought his daughter to the police station. As soon as they entered, Cai Jue said to Shen Aibin: “Because Sha reported that she had been assaulted by your daughter and several others, the branch has already opened a case under the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Shen Aibin found this somewhat unbelievable: criminal proceedings had been opened immediately merely because Sha had reported the matter?! Shen’s daughter was then summoned for 24 hours. On April 9, compulsory residential release on bail was imposed on her on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble (see Attachment 1).

On April 20, 2020, police officer Cai Jue notified Shen Aibin to collect the “Notice of Forensic Assessment Opinion” (see Attachment 2). The Liangxi Branch of the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau had engaged relevant personnel to assess the degree of injury suffered by the victim, Sha. The assessment opinion stated: “The degree of injury suffered by Sha Dongziyi is minor.” Shen Aibin had initially believed that after obtaining this assessment opinion, the branch should immediately cancel the opening of the criminal case, because according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, the standard for opening a case for “beating others at will” requires “one person sustaining a minor injury or two people sustaining slight injuries.” Since there was only one Sha, a minor injury was required to open a case, yet the Liangxi Branch continued its wrongful opening of the criminal case.

On May 29, 2020, however, the Liangxi Branch of the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau suddenly requested approval for arrest on the charge of “robbery.” After Prosecutor Zhou Qingyuan of the Juvenile Procuratorial Department of the Liangxi District People’s Procuratorate heard Shen Aibin’s views, he strongly agreed with them and considered the grounds for requesting approval of the arrest insufficient (see Attachment 3: “Form for Hearing the Opinions of the Statutory Representative in a Criminal Case”). However, on June 5, the Liangxi District People’s Procuratorate approved the arrest after changing the charge.

On November 16, 2020, the Liangxi District Court sentenced Shen Aibin’s daughter at first instance to two years and eight months in prison. After an appeal, the Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court wrongfully rejected it. On March 20, 2021, Shen Aibin’s daughter was transferred from the Wuxi Women’s Detention Center to the Zhenjiang Women’s Prison (juvenile correctional facility). She was released after completing her sentence in October 2022. 

While persecuting Shen Aibin’s daughter, the Liangxi Public Security Branch also abused its power to persecute Shen Aibin. The third wrongful criminal case against Shen Aibin was opened on May 14, 2020; he was placed under residential surveillance on May 17; and on the day his daughter was sentenced at first instance, he was placed under residential release on bail. While Shen’s daughter was serving her sentence in Zhenjiang, Shen was arrested for the third time. When his daughter was released, Shen was still in the Wuxi Detention Center. This was a bizarre criminal incident in the human world.

III. This was a case of implicatory persecution deliberately plotted and manufactured by Wuxi’s judicial elements against Shen Aibin

After Shen’s daughter was arrested, veteran police officers at the Liangxi Branch, who had previously had work-related dealings with Shen, told him when they saw him: “You got your daughter into trouble. There are several cases like this at our police station every day, and we handle them as civil disputes. When they found out that it was your daughter, their eyes lit up, and they immediately reported it to the branch.”

The defense lawyer stated bluntly: “The ‘Investigation and Assessment Opinion’ prepared for Shen Aibin’s daughter and the ‘Letter Concerning the Strict Confidentiality of the “Investigation and Assessment Opinion” on Shen Jiayi’ (see Attachment 4) are sufficient to prove that this was a case arising because of Shen Aibin. Viewed as a whole, the facts were not clearly established and the evidence was insufficient. Moreover, there was a deliberate distortion of the facts and an unlawful determination that circumstances such as ‘public place’ and ‘gathering’ existed, thereby increasing the sentencing range to carry out persecution.”

This case was originally a simple civil dispute arising from a trivial matter between children. It was only because Shen Aibin’s daughter had participated that Wuxi’s judicial elements deliberately hyped it into a criminal case. 

IV. The following illegal acts were committed by Wuxi’s judicial elements in this case:

1. Unlawful opening of a case. The case did not legally meet the standard for opening a case under Article 293, paragraph 1, item (1) of the Criminal Law, “beating others at will,” yet a criminal case was wrongfully opened.

2. Unlawful request for approval of arrest. Without determining when, by whom or by what means the phone had been taken, or whether it had simply been lost, they requested approval for arrest on the charge of robbery, and its whereabouts have still not been determined.

3. The facts were not clearly established and the evidence was insufficient; the existence of “criminal facts” was determined solely on the basis of testimony and subjective speculation.

4. A dispute that had occurred spontaneously in a hotel room was unlawfully deemed to have taken place in a “public place,” and three or more people who had naturally gathered were deemed to constitute a “crowd.” The law was thereby abused to increase the sentencing range. This was a typical act of persecution.

5. In order to prevent Shen’s daughter from receiving a suspended sentence, the Liangxi District Justice Bureau fabricated an “Investigation and Assessment Opinion” by completely inventing facts and defaming and slandering Shen’s daughter. In order to conceal this carefully manufactured opinion and prevent its fabrication of facts, defamation and slander from being exposed, it then abused its authority to produce the “Letter Concerning the Strict Confidentiality of the ‘Investigation and Assessment Opinion’ on Shen Jiayi,” while also extensively denigrating, defaming and slandering Shen Aibin.

It can be seen from the above that this case was an implicatory persecution case deliberately manufactured by Wuxi’s criminal judicial elements in order to attack, retaliate against and entrap Shen Aibin, through the deliberate abuse of power, distortion of facts and abuse of the law. This is immediately clear from the case files and the entire process of handling the case. 

V. List of perpetrators who bent the law for personal ends in this case:

I.Investigative authorities:

Zhou Jun, Zheng Bangxian, Shen Qi and Cai Jue;

II.Procuratorial authorities:

Du Xiaohua, head of the Juvenile Procuratorial Department of the Liangxi District People’s Procuratorate;

Zhou Qingyuan, then a staff member of the Juvenile Procuratorial Department of the Liangxi District People’s Procuratorate, now promoted to director of the Political and Legal Affairs Department;

III.Judicial authorities:

Shen Libo, Zhang Hongyuan and Wu Hanlie, members of the first-instance collegial panel;

Chen Jingyu (vice president), Ma Xiaowei and Xu Haihong, members of the second-instance collegial panel;

Yang Liu, second-instance judicial assistant, abusing power and committing wrongdoing—how many people will she harm before she retires? 

Next report: [Series Report (5)] The CCP Wuxi’s Inhumane Atrocities Against Human Rights Defender Shen Aibin: Attacking and Harming Shen Aibin with Extreme Electromagnetic Radiation and High-Frequency Sound Waves

Attachment 1: Decision on Residential Release on Bail

 

Attachment 2: Notice of Forensic Assessment Opinion

 

Attachment 3: Form for Hearing the Opinions of the Statutory Representative in a Criminal Case

Attachment 4: Letter Concerning the Strict Confidentiality of the “Investigation and Assessment Opinion” on Shen Jiayi