Two Cases Filed by Chongqing Human Rights Defender Xiao Zhenyi Against the Illegal Compulsory Summons Measures of the Shapingba Police Station in Chongqing and for Administrative Compensation to Be Heard at the Shapingba District Court in Chongqing on June 12, 2026

On June 9, 2026, this outlet learned that two cases filed by Chongqing human rights defender Xiao Zhenyi against the illegal compulsory summons measures of the Shapingba Police Station in Chongqing and for administrative compensation will be heard at 3:00 p.m. on June 12, 2026, in Courtroom 2 of the Shapingba District Court in Chongqing.

On December 10, 2025, Xiao Zhenyi, Lu Junling and Zhao Liang were compulsorily summoned by police for initiating a joint petition calling for the removal of a wall that had long obstructed the road; the parties concerned stated that they had been subjected to the “abuse of restraints” and illegally deprived of their personal freedom during the incident.

Profile of Xiao Zhenyi: Born in the 1970s, a Chongqing citizen, resident of the Kangmei Community in Dazhulin, Chongqing’s Liangjiang New Area, an independent candidate for a district- or township-level people’s congress representative seat in Chongqing, a volunteer with the Chongqing Green Leaf Action, a pro-democracy and rights-defending citizen, and a human rights defender.

On November 31, 2021, he actively ran in the district- and township-level people’s congress elections as a lawful citizen of Chongqing, thereby attracting extensive public attention; he also gave high praise and approval to the “Joint Declaration by Independent Candidates for the Chongqing People’s Congress” issued by four citizens, including himself, but ultimately, because he was merely an ordinary person with no official background or support from official circles, the local community refused to accept his registration as a candidate on the grounds that he was “unqualified”;

On August 14, 2021, he was summoned by police from the police station serving the Dazhulin Kangmei Community where he lived after filming and posting a short video concerning the pandemic at a local farmers’ market, and his mobile phone and other belongings were confiscated on the spot;

In September 2021, his unmarried girlfriend, Tang Yunshu, repeatedly sought redress after three properties belonging to her family were forcibly demolished and damaged by the government, and as a result she was sent to psychiatric hospitals multiple times and was criminally detained and sentenced;

On September 15, 2021, his girlfriend was arrested by police again and, after being held beyond the legal detention period for more than a year, was sentenced on November 16, 2022, by the Fengdu County Court in Chongqing to four years and six months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”;

During this period, he traveled extensively and appealed for his girlfriend’s rescue. Later, because he repeatedly spoke out on behalf of his girlfriend and continued to seek justice and support online, he was also taken away and rendered incommunicado by police from Chongqing’s Liangjiang New Area;

After Chongqing friends Zhong Shengniu and Zhu Chunhua made inquiries through various channels, they finally learned on November 21, 2022, that he had been formally arrested by police in Chongqing’s Yubei District on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”; after the Yubei District Court in Chongqing held two secret hearings, he was ultimately sentenced by that court in January 2023 to two years and 10 months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, with his sentence running until September 2025.