Henan Province’s rights activist Xing Wangli from Xixian has been repeatedly suppressed. On February 18th this year, he was again criminally detained on charges of “provoking trouble” and subsequently arrested and prosecuted. Xing Wangli’s case was originally scheduled for trial on May 13th, but it ultimately only had a pre-trial meeting. Xing Wangli’s son, human rights activist Xing Jian, a New Zealand national, believes his father is being framed as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s tactics of transnational repression against his anti-communist activities in New Zealand.
Xing Wangli and his son Xing Jian are well-known rights activists in Xixian, Henan Province. After Xing Jian was involved in a car accident in 2002, the local government unlawfully handled and privately distributed the compensation money. The whole family continued to petition for their rights, leading to repeated arrests of Xing Wangli and his family, with him being sentenced multiple times. When Xing Jian fled to Thailand, he was also at risk of being captured by the CCP internationally before being rescued and settled in New Zealand in January 2020.
After completing his sentence and being released on April 11, 2024, Xing Wangli had been under constant surveillance by the authorities. On the morning of February 18 this year, Xing Wangli was lured to the Huaihe Street Police Station in Xixian by personnel from the local residents’ committee and Huaihe Street Office, accompanied by police officers in riot gear from the Xixian Public Security Bureau Security Brigade led by Chen Wanyi. He was handcuffed and taken to the Xixian Detention Center on suspicion of provoking trouble. Subsequently, Xing Wangli was arrested and prosecuted.
On April 27 this year, the lawyer met Xing Wangli for the first time at the Xixian Detention Center and learned that the case was scheduled for trial on May 13. However, Xing Jian stated in an interview with Epoch Times on May 15 that the case was quite peculiar. It was originally scheduled for trial on the 13th, but the trial lasted about 40 minutes and was changed to a pre-trial meeting.
“They have now found two ‘victims,’ one is Hong Jie, the party secretary of the Hongzhuang Village Street Office, and the other is Guan Min, the party secretary of the Caoyuan Community. But they are unaware of the situation, and were forced by their superiors and the police to give statements. This case wasn’t even filed, but an illegal investigation was launched, fabricating charges and creating false cases. Moreover, all the statements they made, my father didn’t sign, and when the lawyer asked for video recordings, they didn’t provide them,” he said.
Xing Jian provided the official indictment and two so-called “victims” with their phone call recordings with Xing Wangli.
The indictment claims that Xing Wangli demanded compensation from Hong Jie, the village party secretary of the Hongzhuang Village Street Office in Xixian, in 2024 for clearing tree roots in the village’s farmland, to which Hong transferred 3,500 yuan. That same year, Xing Wangli sought money from Guan Min, the party secretary of the Caoyuan Community, under the guise of drilling wells for drought resistance, with Guan transferring 4,000 yuan via WeChat to Xing Wangli’s wife. Also that year, Xing Wangli requested financial assistance from the “victim” Guan Min due to his family’s difficulties, with Guan paying a total of 10,000 yuan in cash.
Xing Jian told Epoch Times that these two so-called victims claim they knew nothing about the incidents and were approached by the police to participate in the case. “There are no victims, no complainants, no case filing, and no records of complaints. It’s all fabricated by them.”
On May 12, the lawyer met with his father, and it was then that his father learned that the trial was scheduled for the next day as the authorities did not inform him in advance. Considering all the evidence was fabricated, his father insists on his innocence. Initially believing he would be released quickly, his father was surprised to hear that the prosecution is recommending a sentence of four and a half to five years.
In a post on social media on May 11, Xing Jian wrote: “From 2002 until now, my father Xing Wangli has been through labor camps for a year, imprisoned four times, with a cumulative sentence of nine years and eight months. In his more than 22 years of rights activism and social work, he spent ten years and eight months in labor camps, detention centers, and prisons; not to mention being held in custody pending trial, under surveillance, house arrest, illegal restrictions on personal freedom, administrative detention, etc…”
Xing Jian believes that his father was targeted this time not only because of the stability maintenance during the “Two Sessions” back then but also due to transnational repression related to his own protest activities against the CCP in New Zealand.
In June last year, during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to New Zealand, Xing Jian was physically assaulted by individuals sent by the CCP while participating in a protest. Following the incident, excreta was splattered on Xing Jian’s door, unidentified liquid resembling crystal meth was found in his mailbox, and his car tires were slashed.
In November last year, members of the New Zealand Values Alliance went to Wellington to submit a petition to the parliament urging the government to enact a Foreign Agents Registration Act to prevent CCP infiltration. Xing Jian participated in the petition and interviews with the media.
Xing Jian stated that the CCP is even darker than the underworld. “Peaceful protest in New Zealand is a citizen’s right. The CCP cannot legally sanction me in New Zealand, so they resorted to spraying excreta at my residence, putting in what appears to be a viral substance, but all of that didn’t scare me. I continue to lodge complaints with the local media about the CCP’s transnational repression. Since they couldn’t control me, they fabricated evidence to frame my family. This is guilt by association.”