Shanghai petitioner Wang Huifang filed a lawsuit against district government officials and police officers for assaulting her, resulting in injuries. The trial began on June 4th at the Civil Tribunal of Minhang District Court in Shanghai. However, the court did not proceed with evidence presentation or arguments, abruptly announcing the end of the trial after only 30 minutes.
During Wang Huifang’s case trial, which ended hastily in just 30 minutes, onlookers including petitioners Gu Guoping, Yang Yonglan, Zhang Yaqing, Zhao Dihou, Zhong Tao, Lu Ning, and others raised questions and protests, which were disregarded by the court.
According to petitioners who attended the trial, plainclothes individuals had been monitoring and tracking them throughout the courtroom session. “These plainclothes individuals were equipped with monitoring devices and were surveilling us in our vicinity,” they stated.
Gu Guoping expressed to a reporter, “Our country is a frightening society. We believe that a police state is an inevitable response to such a society.”
Gu Guoping further noted, “During the trial, Wang Huifang requested evidence from the defendants, the police, and the district government. The court blatantly favored the police station and district government by not presenting the video evidence of Wang Huifang’s injuries as factual evidence for questioning, and abruptly ending the trial without going through the questioning and argumentation procedures after half an hour.”
“This trial was highly illegal and did not adhere to the rules and procedures of a court trial. Therefore, we felt helpless because amidst the various violations and disregard for legal procedures during this trial, it is evident that the so-called Communist Party’s administrative litigation against citizens is merely a facade put on for external display, an illusion of a rule of law state,” Gu Guoping remarked.
“In China, there is no possibility of winning in administrative cases where citizens sue officials because our judiciary is not independent. The ruling Communist Party directly controls the courts, turning the judiciary into a tool for suppressing ordinary people,” Gu Guoping lamented.
On April 12, 2024, Wang Huifang lodged a complaint with the Judicial Bureau of Jing’an District after being injured by street workers. Despite reporting the incident to the police, they failed to issue a formal injury assessment report according to legal procedures. Instead, Wang Huifang was taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation, but she was refused admission as the medical professionals deemed her mentally stable.
Subsequently, the police directed Wang Huifang to Shanghai Changzheng Hospital for injury assessment, where she was diagnosed with multiple soft tissue bruises on her body. However, during the judicial appraisal, the police intentionally selected an institution incapable of conducting reliable bruise assessments, causing Wang Huifang to miss the optimal period for the evaluation.
Consequently, Wang Huifang lodged an administrative review against the police officers from Shi’er Police Station and the district government, leading to the initiation of administrative litigation.
The first trial for the administrative litigation was scheduled for April 23, 2025. On March 19, Wang Huifang submitted a lawsuit against the defendants of her administrative case to the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing, and she received a notice of transfer to the public reception room from the Ministry of Public Security.
However, while aboard the bus route 14 in Beijing, Wang Huifang was intercepted by the police and taken back to Shanghai by Shi’er Police Station for investigation by the officials she accused. She was then detained at Jing’an Detention Center and forcibly subjected to psychiatric evaluations.
Wang Huifang’s lawyer stated, “The police’s actions aimed to silence her permanently and eliminate any possibility of her going to court! The police not only failed to introspect but also personally handled the case and intended to have her declared mentally unstable. Ultimately, they wanted to have her admitted to a mental hospital, in the hopes that the authorities would believe she was delusional and untrustworthy.”
Following the lawyer’s defense, realizing they had conducted illegal activities during the investigation, the police released Wang Huifang after 50 days of detention.