Shanghai petitioners were deeply harmed by the black prison system. This year, two petitioners died in black prisons, and recently another petitioner, Liu Dongbao, was persecuted and left unable to walk. In response to this, Song Jiahong, a spokesperson for the Shanghai black prison, recently initiated a joint statement calling on the authorities to crack down on black prisons, garnering widespread support from petitioners.
July 23, Liu Dongbao and seven other Shanghai citizens hung banners calling for the attention of the President of the European Union, Von der Leyen, to the dire human rights situation in China. On the morning of July 26, four police officers from the Shimeng Second Road Police station of the Jing’an Sub-bureau of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau arrived at Liu Dongbao’s home and took him to the Shimeng Second Road Police station. In the afternoon, six alleged Jing’an District petition office personnel entered the police station from the back door and took Liu Dongbao to the “Yufan Nongjiale” black prison in Chongming District, where he was detained in a room and had his freedom restricted until the evening of October 24, a total of 92 days.
On the night of October 24, Liu Dongbao was dumped on a road one kilometer away from his home. The 70-year-old Liu Dongbao suffered cruel physical torture in the black prison. Due to his advanced age and multiple health issues, his feet were swollen and painful, two of his teeth were knocked out, his skull protruded, and his chest was bruised.
For several days, with the assistance of petitioner friends, Liu Dongbao went to the Shimeng Second Road police station to report the incident, waiting for over 20 hours and encountering three shifts of police officers who refused to assist. On October 27, they went to Chongming District to look for the black prison “Yufan Nongjiale”, but the Jibang Police station in Chongming District similarly refused to handle the case or file a report.
Accompanying petitioner Yu Zhonghuan told Epoch Times, “Yufan Nongjiale” is located 60 kilometers away from downtown Shanghai and is almost deserted most of the time. However, during sensitive times such as national congresses and central plenary sessions, it becomes full, becoming a black prison where petitioners are kidnapped, detained, abused, beaten, tortured, and poisoned. There are many such black prisons in the outskirts of Shanghai.
Due to the extremely harsh nature of black prisons, petitioners are deeply resentful! As a result, Song Jiahong of the Shanghai black prison issued a joint statement demanding that the Shanghai government crack down on black prisons. The content of the joint statement requests that the relevant department disclose information such as the law enforcement basis, including: the incident on the morning of July 26 when police officers arrived at the demolition petitioner Liu Dongbao’s home on Wuding Road and took him to Shimeng Second Road police station and later transferred him to six alleged Jing’an District petition office personnel from the back door, continuing to drive Liu Dongbao to Yufan Nongjiale in Zhongxing Town, Chongming District, restricting his freedom in a room until October 24, information about leadership instructions, law enforcement basis, room expenses, and the list of alleged Jing’an District petition office staff (guard personnel) from the government.
Currently, the number of people signing the joint statement is continuing to increase, nearing one hundred.
Song Jiahong told Epoch Times, “Liu Dongbao’s ordeal in the Chongming black prison this time was a matter of life and death. The paths of reporting to the police station and filing reports were all blocked, the procedures were not working, and the police claimed it was a ‘government action’.”
“In accordance with Article 2 of the ‘Regulations on Open Government Information,’ government actions are designated as government information, and as long as a citizen applies for it, the government should disclose it. Although citizens have the right to oversee and be informed, when individuals apply, government departments simply ignore them. Now, we are engaging in collective action. When over ten people are involved, it is classified as collective action, and the government cannot easily evade responsibility. If 100 people participate, it becomes a major collective event that must be reported. In this way, the government will find it difficult to shirk responsibility,” Song Jiahong said.
He also stated, “It is also possible that the response to open government information requests may be considered a ‘petition by citizens.’ If this happens, it enters the ‘suing the official’ process, administrative review, and further administrative litigation. Whether we win or not, make the government sit in the defendant’s seat and educate them!”
Yu Zhonghuan said, “The Shimeng Second Road Police station and the alleged Jing’an District petition office personnel are actually security guards from the Shanghai Fangying Cityscape Management Service Co., Ltd. hired by the Jing’an District government and street office. They conspired together to kidnap Liu Dongbao to Yufan Nongjiale in Chongming and subjected him to beatings, abuse, denial of medical treatment, etc. All previous requests for information disclosure on such matters have been processed as ‘no information found,’ and this time should be no exception. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence such as hundreds of videos, pictures, witness testimonies, the government shamelessly denies it.”
He believes that there will indeed be no such information in the government information database because they would never record their own atrocities.
He also stated, “The petition offices at all levels of the CCP government are the world’s largest terrorist organization, operating above the law, raising funds under the guise of maintaining stability, and persecuting human rights defenders. In recent years, government fiscal deficits have tightened, but stability maintenance costs have continued to rise, all used for intercepting, kidnapping, incarcerating in black prisons, hiring thugs for beatings on petitioners, and more. The majority of the embezzled funds are involved in these acts. What is even more evil is the moral degradation of CCP officials: having embezzled so much money, they still relentlessly inflict harm on petitioners, worse than animals.”