Recently, the Zhengzhou police were exposed for detaining over a hundred individuals in a villa for at least six months, all of whom were handcuffed and shackled. At night, groups of about 10 people were chained together with a thin iron chain the size of a pinky finger, making it impossible for them to use the toilet.
According to multiple media reports, on August 19th and 20th, the Zhengzhou Intermediate People’s Court heard a case involving a major health company accused of fraud. The defense counsel accused the Zhengzhou Public Security Bureau of forcibly confining multiple individuals in a designated residence for at least the past six months, using handcuffs and shackles to control them in groups of around 10 people, locking them in rooms within the Qinglong Villa in Zhengzhou.
The court revealed that from September 23, 2023, to January 3, 2024, over twenty employees implicated in the case of the health company were brought from Zhuhai to the Qinglong Villa in Zhengzhou by the Zhengzhou Public Security Bureau under the guise of designated residence.
Witnesses reported that at least over a hundred individuals were detained in a two-story building within the Qinglong Villa. The defendants in court identified that groups of around ten men were locked in a room, all wearing handcuffs and shackles. They were chained together with a thin iron chain at night for sleeping. There were no beds in the room, only three mattresses, with three to four people sharing one mattress.
Those involved stated that once chained with iron, they were unable to use the toilet at night. To avoid needing the toilet at night, they tried to eat and drink as little as possible. Some individuals suffered abrasions all over their bodies from the long-term wear of handcuffs, shackles, and being chained.
According to reports, the Public Security Bureau used the excuse of the COVID-19 pandemic to quarantine them there, but in the end, almost everyone ended up infected.
Female detainees were also shackled for five to six days, with most ankles being injured from the shackles, only able to stop bleeding by wrapping with tissues. After strong protests, the shackles were finally removed.
Defendants accused that they were ordered by Zhengzhou Public Security Bureau Zhengdong Branch office police to crawl on the ground underground, and were kicked in the chin with feet.
One defendant revealed that due to the prolonged wear of shackles, they became rusted and could not be opened, ultimately requiring the fire department to assist in their removal.
“Designated Residential Surveillance” is a type of “coercive detention measure violating basic human rights” stipulated by the Chinese Communist regime, authorizing the detainee to be held at any location or building chosen by the police for up to six months prior to arrest, without disclosing the location of detention. To extract confessions, suspects are treated inhumanely, including being handcuffed, shackled, and even restricted in restroom visits. In recent years, there have been frequent reports of suspects dying or becoming vegetative during designated residential surveillance periods.
Many dissidents have also been subjected to “designated residential surveillance.” Wang Quanzhang, a victim lawyer in the “709 Crackdown” by the Chinese Communist Party, experienced complete freedom restrictions during designated surveillance, understanding what it means to feel “better off dead.”
According to a report by a human rights organization in Spain, since the establishment of the designated residential surveillance system in 2013, as of June 1, 2021, the number of victims detained ranged from 27,208 to 56,963.