On December 4th, which is China’s Constitution Day, Jitengfu, a petitioner from Neijiang, Sichuan, was invited to participate in a constitution exchange by his friends but was taken away by the police at a friend’s house in Dujiangyan, and was administratively detained for eight days. On December 5th, Jitengfu’s wife, Wang Yicui, went to Beijing but was immediately monitored as soon as she left the high-speed rail station, and only managed to escape after urgently calling the police.
Following Jitengfu’s abduction on December 4th, the Neijiang City Public Security Bureau in the city center detained him for eight days on the grounds of alleged “provocation and troublemaking” due to his multiple visits to Beijing during major national events.
On the evening of December 5th, Wang Yicui received a phone call from the Neijiang police while on the high-speed rail to Beijing, informing her of Jitengfu’s detention. As the train approached Hebei Province, Neijiang government officials also boarded the train. The two sides had a heated exchange but ultimately parted ways.
In the early hours of December 7th, as the car arrived in Beijing, Wang Yicui and fellow petitioner Jiang Chengfen arrived at the station in Beijing, where they were harassed and followed by three unknown men. She urgently called the police and at the police station requested to file a report, finally receiving a notice of acceptance in the early hours of the morning.
Wang Yicui told a reporter that she narrowly avoided being kidnapped in Beijing. She reported the incident that night and was only able to make a report in the early hours of the morning, receiving a receipt of acceptance. She said, “My head is spinning now, I will speak more when I feel better.”
Petitioner Huang Xiaoming stated, “We believe that regardless of the sufficiency of the reasons for Wang Yicui and her husband’s petition and appeal, and no matter what they have said or where they have gone, it does not constitute any illegal activity. All their actions are within the scope of protection of the Constitution and Criminal Law as legitimate acts of free and lawful citizens.”
Wang Yicui and Jitengfu are residents of Fengming Village, Quan’an Town, City Center District of Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, who once had a happy family. Fifteen years ago, they went out to work, and their home was intentionally burned down in their absence. Forced to return to Neijiang to investigate the true cause of the fire, they embarked on a long road of petitioning.
In the early days of their rights protection efforts, the couple worked in Beijing to make a living while submitting materials to appeal against the illegal actions of local officials in burning down their house and encroaching on their land. However, their appeals were violently obstructed, and their entire family was threatened.
In October 2016, Wang Yicui participated in village representative elections as an independent candidate but was sentenced to three years in prison for “provocation and troublemaking” by the local government.
In June 2021, she happened to witness local officials gambling in a group, so she took a short video and posted it on a local online forum. Subsequently, she was once again sentenced to four years in prison for “provocation and troublemaking” and was released earlier this year after serving her full term with a lot of physical ailments.