Henan human rights defender Xing Wangli, sentenced to 3 years, transferred to Cell 401 of Subsection 1, Section 12, at Zhumadian Prison in Henan Province (also known as Yunan Prison)

(Rights Protection Network Information Center report) On April 1, 2026, this outlet learned that Henan human rights defender Xing Wangli, who was sentenced to three years, has been transferred to Cell 401 of Subsection 1, Section 12, at Zhumadian Prison in Henan Province (also known as Yunan Prison).

Xing Wangli’s son, Xing Jian, recently reported: “I recently received a letter from my father, Xing Wangli, from prison: Before the Lunar New Year, he received letters and New Year cards from his American friends, including Zhang Junsheng. My father asked me to convey his greetings to the friends who care about him and to international human rights organizations! He has now been transferred to Cell 401 of Subsection 1, Section 12, at Yunan Prison in Henan Province. Xing Wangli has been imprisoned several times for more than ten years in total, but his will has not been crushed, and he remains positive and optimistic. However, his physical condition has suffered severely, and in the letter he specifically asked his family to send him medication.”

Biography of Xing Wangli: Born on March 24, 1971, he is from Xi County, Xinyang City, Henan Province, and is a rights defender.

Beginning in 2002, after his 7-year-old son Xing Jian (then named Xing Lulu) was run over by a vehicle belonging to the Xinyang Cotton and Linen Company, suffering a ruptured liver and a fracture of his right leg and nearly dying, and after local authorities handled the matter unlawfully and privately divided the compensation, his entire family began a rights-protection campaign. After that, Xing Wangli not only sought to defend his own family’s rights and interests, but gradually began helping others defend theirs as well, accumulating more than 20 years of rights-defense activities. During this prolonged rights-defense campaign, his family members were repeatedly subjected to suppression and illegal judicial persecution by the authorities. Family members were illegally sentenced and imprisoned for a cumulative total of 16 years; Xing Wangli himself was subjected to reeducation through labor and sentenced and imprisoned for a cumulative total of 10 years and 8 months; the family’s total time served amounted to 26 years and 8 months (not including time spent in administrative detention, illegal detention, house arrest, criminal detention, or residential surveillance).

On September 24, 2004, Xing Wangli was sentenced to one year of reeducation through labor by the Xi County Public Security Bureau for seeking medical expenses and compensation for his son.

During the 2012 Two Sessions, Xing Wangli went to the township government (now the Huaihe Subdistrict Office of Xi County) to request a solution to the problem of water for production, but without success. When passing the Chengjiao Township Police Station in Xi County (now the Huaihe Subdistrict Police Station of Xi County), he saw that Xi County petitioner Zhou Junling had already been illegally detained there for several days by the station’s then director, Wang Liang. He immediately took photographs with the camera he was carrying. On the night of March 7, Wang Liang brought two uniformed police officers to Xing Wangli’s home to demand the photographs, but Xing refused. Wang Liang then assembled more than 20 police officers, surrounded the Xing family home, and took Xing away. He subsequently accused Xing Wangli of extorting the Chengjiao Township government (which had forcibly provided Xing Wangli with 10,000 yuan in aid in 2011). Concerned that her husband might be subjected to torture during interrogation by Wang Liang and others, Xing Wangli’s wife, Xu Jincui, went to the police station with their son Xing Jian to inquire about the situation. She was accused of obstructing official duties, sentenced to two years and six months, and held at the Women’s Prison of Zhongmu County, Henan Province. Xing Wangli was ultimately sentenced to two years for “extorting the township government.” While detained at the Xi County Detention Center, he suffered inhumane treatment, including forced fasting and leg irons, and endured physical and mental torture. The Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court twice overturned the original judgment and remanded the case for retrial on the grounds that the facts were unclear and the evidence insufficient. Ultimately, because the facts were unclear and the evidence insufficient, the Xi County Procuratorate withdrew the prosecution and declined to prosecute.

On March 7, 2014, after being detained for two years, Xing Wangli completed his sentence and was released. However, on the day of his release, the Xi County Public Security Bureau verbally announced that it was placing him under residential surveillance. It was not until August 6 of that year that the Xi County Public Security Bureau issued a written Decision on Residential Surveillance at a Designated Residence, stating that the measure had been in effect since March 7, 2014.

Xing Wangli was accused of “extorting the township government.” The case was twice overturned and remanded for retrial by the Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court on the grounds of “unclear facts and insufficient evidence.” Ultimately, the Xi County People’s Procuratorate withdrew the prosecution. The facts of the case thus proved that Xing Wangli had committed no crime, but he had already been effectively detained at the detention center for two years.

In April 2015, Xi County petitioner Feng Guohui died under mysterious circumstances in a rented room at the Xi County farmers’ market while petitioning. The incident was riddled with suspicious points and deeply shocked petitioners in the area. Xing Wangli, together with local petitioners Yu Jun and Zhou Junling, immediately issued public appeals online calling on higher-level organs, including the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Public Security, to intervene and investigate the matter and determine the truth about the death. This angered the local authorities. On May 25 of that year, Xing Wangli was criminally detained by Xi County police on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” The police’s accusations against him even included “urinating on the nameplate of the Xi County Court” and protesting in public against the “unfair judgments” handed down by the court against his daughter Xing Mei, his mother Xing Jiaying, and his mother-in-law He Zeying—content that was highly retaliatory in nature. On June 4, Xing Wangli was formally arrested and detained at the Xi County Detention Center in Xinyang City. On August 26, 2016, his case was heard at the Xi County Court in Xinyang City, Henan Province, and at first instance he was sentenced to four years and six months for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He immediately appealed. Unexpectedly, the following day he nearly died, while prison authorities did not notify his family until 10 hours after the incident, saying that he had attempted to hang himself with a paper rope from the cell window and that, when rescued by people in the same cell, he had landed headfirst, resulting in “a right frontotemporal cerebral contusion and laceration, an occipital bone fracture, a left parietal epidural hematoma, contusions to the lower lobes of both lungs, bilateral pleural effusion, and hydrocephalus.” Because he was not out of danger, his family was not allowed to visit him. It was reported that during his detention, he was repeatedly subjected to torture and prison abuse. The Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court later issued a ruling on appeal upholding the original sentence of four years and six months (because the prosecution against Xing Wangli for “extorting the township government” had been withdrawn, and Xing Wangli had also been actually detained for two years, the authorities decided to offset two years, leaving two years and six months to be served). He had previously served his sentence at the Fourth Prison of Henan Province (Luoyang Prison).

After being released upon completing his sentence on November 24, 2017, he and his wife sought to defend their rights after the then secretary of the Party Committee of Chengjiao Township, Xi County, Li Xuechao; deputy director of the Public Security Bureau Lu Xinping; and Qiu Jihong of the Traffic Police Brigade embezzled compensation money from their son’s traffic accident. They were imprisoned several times and subjected to severe persecution by the authorities. Both husband and wife were suffering from illness, and, having no alternative, they went to Beijing to seek medical treatment at the end of February 2018. However, as soon as they got off the train at Beijing Railway Station, they were kidnapped, forcibly returned, and detained by local government personnel who intercept petitioners. Subsequently, the Xi County Court in Xinyang City, Henan Province used “3,000 yuan in hardship relief” as the basis for conviction and wrongfully sentenced him to two years and three months for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He appealed, but the Xinyang Intermediate People’s Court upheld the original judgment on appeal, and he was sent to Xinyang Prison in Henan Province to serve his sentence. On May 26, 2020, he was released after completing his sentence.

On April 20, 2021, because he and his wife had gone to Lingshan Town, Luoshan County, Henan Province, to visit human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, who had been under house arrest by the authorities for more than two years, and then went to a post office in Dongcheng District, Beijing, on April 27 to mail a letter, they were questioned and detained by officers from the Qianmen Police Station in Beijing. They were subsequently placed in administrative detention for 15 days by police from their native Xi County. On May 12 of the same year, Xi County police changed the measure to criminal detention on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” On June 18 of the same year, the Xi County Procuratorate changed the charge and formally approved his arrest on suspicion of “defamation,” accusing him of having made “false statements in ‘An Appeal for Help to People from All Sectors of Society and Internet Users,’ defaming multiple public officials and causing a negative social impact,” and asserting that his words and actions had violated relevant government laws and that he should be arrested. On April 21, 2022, the Xi County Court in Xinyang City, Henan Province, sentenced him at first instance to two years and 11 months for “defamation,” with his sentence ending on April 11, 2024. He appealed, but the second-instance ruling upheld the original judgment. His sentence ended on April 11, 2024. He had previously served his sentence at Xinyang Prison in Henan Province.

On the morning of February 18, 2025, when Xi County petitioner Yu Jun and several other local petitioners were preparing to leave Xing Wangli’s home, elderly Yu Jun was violently intercepted by local government personnel in front of the Xing home and was roughly shoved to the ground. Xing Wangli was present at the time. He recorded the entire incident on his cellphone and then called the Xi County Public Security Bureau to report it.

However, after reporting the incident to police in accordance with the law, Xing Wangli himself was criminally detained that same day by the Public Order Brigade of the Xi County Public Security Bureau on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” He was subsequently formally arrested and transferred for prosecution. On April 27, 2025, a lawyer was permitted to meet with him for the first time. At 9 a.m. on May 13, 2025, the case was first heard at the Xi County Court. In court, the defense counsel played an alleged recording of a phone call between Xing Wangli’s wife, Xu Jincui, and the alleged victim, Hong Jie, Party secretary of Hongzhuang Community under the Huaihe Subdistrict Office of Xi County. Hong Jie swore that he had not reported the matter to the public security authorities and said, “It was Chen Wanyi of the police who cooked this up.” A recording of a call with another alleged victim, Guan Min, also denied that she had ever reported the matter. Since the case had no victim, no record of a report, and no case filing, the court collegial panel changed the hearing to a “pretrial conference.”

On May 26, 2025, Xi County Procuratorate prosecutor and public prosecutor in the case Cui Shulin instructed Pan Haojie, a police officer from the Huaihe Police Station of the Xi County Public Security Bureau, to conduct a supplementary questioning of Hong Jie. During the questioning, coercive and inducement tactics, including guidance and suggestion, were used to force him to make statements inconsistent with the facts.

At 3:30 p.m. on July 18, 2025, the case against Xing Wangli for allegedly picking quarrels and provoking trouble was heard again at the Xi County Court. The case had neither a victim nor a witness, but public prosecutor Cui Shulin insisted on prosecuting. To ensure the trial of other cases, the court forcibly moved the hearing of this case forward. Despite insufficient evidence, the absence of records of a report or case filing, illegal evidence collection, and the absence of the alleged witnesses and victim, public prosecutor Cui Shulin still insisted on recommending a sentence of four years and six months to five years.

By the end of August 2025, it was learned that Xi County Court presiding judge Xu Weicheng had sentenced Xing Wangli to three years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” with his sentence ending on February 17, 2028.

This outlet will continue to follow Xing Wangli’s situation in prison.