On June 4th, Guangxi human rights activist Li Yanjun passed away due to illness. Over the years, he suffered persecution and imprisonment from the Chinese Communist authorities, which led to health problems. His multiple requests to seek medical treatment abroad were consistently denied.
Li Yanjun’s friend Zhao Liang (pseudonym) told Epoch Times on June 10th, “Li Yanjun was a staunch anti-communist, enduring persecution and suppression by the authorities, resulting in ailing health. It’s unfortunate that he left before seeing the ‘dawn,’ a significant loss.”
Zhao Liang revealed that Li Yanjun had been detained and even sentenced multiple times, gone on hunger strikes to protest, and sustained physical injuries, leading to poor health. Despite his continuous efforts to seek medical treatment abroad, he was unable to leave the country due to being “restricted from exiting.”
In Li Yanjun’s circle of friends, it was observed that on May 12th, despite his deteriorating health, he went to apply for a Taiwanese travel permit and on the 19th, applied for an expedited process, but both requests were rejected.
Li Yanjun, a native of Nanning, Guangxi, was severely beaten in a gathering of over a thousand people by public security officials in 2007 for opposing the one-child policy, resulting in a fracture near his right eyebrow and nearly costing him his life. Following this incident, he was administratively detained for 15 days without timely medical treatment, causing permanent disability. With no recourse through official channels, he began participating in various human rights activities, advocating for numerous human rights lawyers and participating in protests that made significant impacts.
In 2012, Li Yanjun went to Hong Kong to support mainland Chinese petitioners facing re-education. In 2014, he was detained multiple times for his involvement in various protest activities, including supporting the Zhengzhou Ten Gentlemen case, participating in the July 1st march in Hong Kong, advocating for lawyer rights in Jiansanjiang, and protesting the mysterious death of Xue Fushun in Qufu, as well as the rights protection events of the Zhang Xiaoyu couple in Jiaozuo.
On June 15, 2015, Li Yanjun and more than ten other human rights activists were arrested in Weifang, Shandong Province while attending the court trial of Xu Yonghai case. This event was seen as a prelude to the “709 Crackdown” in 2015, a large-scale operation by the Chinese Communist Party targeting human rights lawyers and activists.
Li Yanjun refused to confess and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison. He was released on October 6, 2017, after serving his sentence. On July 10, 2019, Li Yanjun was violently treated by the police when he went to petition in Nanning for approval to seek medical treatment abroad. In protest, he publicly shouted “Down with the Communist Party,” leading to his detention. Li Yanjun went on a hunger strike, faced life-threatening conditions, was hospitalized for treatment, and eventually released.
On June 25, 2021, Li Yanjun established a WeChat group to seek justice for the wrongful death of human rights victim Guo Hongwei, leading to his detention once again. He engaged in a prolonged hunger strike in protest and was finally released on July 7 of the same year.
Upon the news of Li Yanjun’s passing, many friends expressed deep sorrow. Lawyer Wang Quanzhang posted on a platform, “Ten years ago, the impact of the ‘new five-category major crackdown’ was far-reaching, affecting a wide range of people. There was a Guangxi citizen named Li Yanjun who was arrested before the 709 crackdown (which could be considered a prelude), later sentenced in Shandong on charges of ‘creating disturbances’ and has now passed away. He rarely spoke to me among my WeChat contacts. He came into this world quietly, was deprived of freedom quietly, and left this world quietly… brother, for whom did you light that faint candle…”
Many years ago, during an interview with Epoch Times, Li Yanjun expressed concerns about his health and whether he would survive if detained again, stating, “I hope to see the day when the CCP falls.”