Huang Wenxun (黄文勋)
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Huang Wenxun 黄文勋
(released)
*Previously under medical watch for condition between 2013-2018
Current Detention
Criminal charges: Picking quarrels & provoking trouble
Length of Punishment: N/A
Court: N/A
Trial Date: N/A
Sentencing Date: N/A
Dates of Detention/Arrest: October 11, 2018 (criminally detained); November 16, 2018 (formally arrested)
Place of Incarceration: Boluo County Detention Center, Guangdong Province
Previous Detention
Criminal charges: Inciting subversion of state power
Length of Punishment: 5 years
Court: Xianning City Intermediate People’s Court, Hubei Province
Trial Date: June 24, 2016
Sentencing Date: September 28, 2016
Dates of Detention/Arrest: May 25, 2013 (detained); July 13, 2013 (arrested); May 13, 2018 (release)
Criminal Complaint: Chibi City Public Security Bureau Recommendation for Prosecution (Chinese)
Indictment: Chibi City People’s Procuratorate Indictment (Chinese)
Verdict: Hubei Provincial Xianning City Intermediate People’s Court Verdict (Partial, Chinese)
Place of Incarceration: Chibi City Detention Center, Hubei Province; Hongshan Prison, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
Medical Conditions
Medical condition(s): Tumor in the ear
Date of Birth: February 2, 1990
Background on Current Detention
Guangdong police took activist Huang Wenxun into custody on October 11, 2018, only months after the end of his 5-year prison sentence (see case details above and below). Police in Boluo County seized him after he uploaded a video of himself urging others to go out for a “run” on October 10–National Day in Taiwan. Charged with “picking quarrels & provoking trouble,” Huang was formally arrested the next month, in apparent retaliation for what authorities perceived to be his provocative political act.
On the morning of December 3 , 2018, lawyer Ma Wei went with Huang’s wife to visit Huang at the Boluo County Detention Center. The pair were not allowed to meet with Huang and told to get permission from the public security unit handling Huang’s case, even after they were given the impression a visit could take place. Authorities then allowed the visit on December 7. Huang appeared to be healthy during the visit.
Background on Previous Detention
Previously, Hubei police detained Guangdong activist Huang Wenxun in Chibi City in May 2013 during an “advocacy tour” called “Enlightening China,” which was intended to encourage citizen activism and spread democratic ideas and rule of law. The tour, initiated by Huang, began that April and had stopped at nine cities before arriving at Chibi, where Huang was detained along with other activists including Yuan Xiaohua (袁小华) and Yuan Fengchu (袁奉初) during a rally. Police initially put Huang under administrative detention for “unlawful assembly” but then later criminally detained him on June 8, 2013, and arrested him on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power” in the summer of 2013. In a letter, Huang wrote he was tortured with electric shocks twice after he was taken into custody in 2013.
The procuratorate proceeded to indict Huang in January 2014 for “gathering a crowd to disrupt order of a public place”—a different charge from the one that he had been arrested for. On March 13, 2014, Chibi City People’s Court held a pre-trial meeting for Yuan Fengchu, Yuan Xiaohua, and Huang Wenxun’s case, but did not hold a trial afterwards, to the surprise of the defense lawyers. Over a year later in October 2015, the procuratorate again changed the criminal charge, this time to “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Another pre-trial meeting was held on November 6, 2015, though a trial did not follow. In March 2016, the Chibi procuratorate cancelled the indictment on charges of “picking quarrels” and instead charged Huang with “inciting subversion.” His trial opened on June 24, 2016, in Xianning City, ending without a sentence being pronounced. Huang Wenxun was eventually sentenced to five years in prison in late September of 2016–more than 40 month after first being taken into custody.
In July 2017, Huang revealed to his lawyer details about abuse he has suffered while incarcerated. Huang said he was subjected to several rounds of beatings on December 28, 2016, soon after he was transferred to Hongshan Prison. Huang suffered bruises as a result of the assaults, as well as swelling on his head and dizziness, which led to vomiting over several days. Huang said it took him over a month for him to recuperate. Also, Huang developed a tumor around his ear in the spring of 2017, but prison authorities did not allow him to receive medical treatment. He indicated that he was being forced to work 10 hours a day in prison, which led to severe skin irritation, and had been severely deprived of sleep.
Huang was released from prison on May 13, 2018, after serving out his sentence. However, national security officers kept him under close surveillance until May 24, when Huang was finally allowed to return home. Reportedly, Huang was suffering from memory loss upon his release, unable to even recognize his fellow activists or his lawyer, Sui Muqing. His condition possibly can be attributed to the torture he had faced.
Born on February 16, 1990, Huang Wenxun was a student at Zhongshan University in Guangdong, and began his activism in 2011, when he took to the streets to support prisoners of conscience and promote democracy. He had been seized multiple times in 2013 for protesting before his current detention, including for calling for top Chinese leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao to disclose their financial assets.
Further Information
CHRD’s Watch List of Detainees and Prisoners of Conscience in Need of Medical Attention
Reply to Chinese Government Response on Huang Wenxun, Yuan Bing, and Yuan Xiaohua, March 28, 2017, CHRD
Submission to UN on Huang Wenxun, Yuan Bing & Yuan Xiaohua, July 25, 2016, CHRD
[CHRB] Activists Detained or Facing Trial for Exercising Free Expression (6/22-30, 2016), CHRD
[CHRB] More Anti-Corruption Crusaders Detained (6/13-20, 2013), June 20, 2013, CHRD