Recently released after serving time in prison for four days, Jiangsu petitioner Yang Li was deprived of medical treatment while in custody, with her kidney creatinine level exceeding 800 µmol/L before her release. Prison doctors explicitly warned that without timely treatment, it could lead to heart failure. Authorities in Jintan District, Changzhou City had released a statement before Yang Li’s release, stating that she was critically ill and urgent medical treatment upon release. However, Yang Li is currently being detained at the police station without receiving any medical care.
On January 1, 2026, Yang Li called the Secretary of the Jintan District Committee in Changzhou City, Lu Qiuming, requesting medical treatment. Lu Qiuming said to arrange for medical treatment through the public security department, but the Director of the Binhu Police Station, Ma Yunpeng, refused, claiming no instructions had been received. He assigned personnel to monitor her closely 24 hours a day, not even allowing her privacy when using the bathroom.
Yang Li’s sister, Yang Caiying, who resides in Japan, told reporters that Lu Qiuming has always relied on subordinates to avoid responsibility.
On the day of Yang Li’s release, December 30, 2025, police officers and government staff from Binhu Police Station forcibly removed her in a private car while restraining her on a wheelchair. Around 10 o’clock in the morning, Yang Caiying noticed several cars parked in front of their house, indicating that despite authorities knowing her sister was critically ill, they neglected their humanitarian duty to provide medical assistance and instead left her at home. “My critically ill sister seemed to have been left in a car by the roadside for hours,” she said.
Thirty minutes after Yang Caiying shared this information on a platform, Yang Li was brought back to the police station where she remains detained.
Yang Caiying expressed, “Authorities continue to deprive my family of the right to travel and seek medical treatment, and the local hospital forcibly removed my mother, who suffered a stroke, from the ICU. My father, Yang Guoliang, was hospitalized for over a month after being violently attacked by plainclothes police officers, leading to heart problems due to the stress of being monitored. Returning home for Yang Li would be a dead end. The Chinese Communist Party’s petition and stability system is destroying numerous grassroots families like ours.”
She revealed that during Yang Li’s detention at Changzhou Detention Center, the hospital provided written documentation indicating a significant deterioration in her condition and unsuitability for detention. Deputy Director of the detention center, Gu Yin, brought this evidence to various law enforcement agencies, requesting a change in detention measures, all of which were denied. On December 18, 2024, during Yang Li’s detention, her creatinine level exceeded 800 µmol/L in the last medical examination. Doctors explicitly warned that without timely treatment, heart failure could occur.
The case of Yang Li has attracted the attention of Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Yang Caiying stated, “We invite the public to pay attention and witness the Chinese Nazi methods causing harm to three lives in our family!”
The Jiangsu political and legal system, in order to conceal illegal land acquisition of over 5000 acres, forced demolition and relocation of more than 2300 households, used criminal detention, torture, and long-term deprivation of medical care on the Yang family who sought justice through reporting, leading to the near-death persecution of Yang Li and her mother.
On November 8, 2024, Yang Li was physically assaulted by murderers and drug traffickers in prison, shackled with 15-pound ankle cuffs and handcuffs for three days, underwent a hunger strike for four days followed by four days of forced feeding through a tube, and then shackled for 15 days. The police officer in charge of the cell, Han Yu, claimed he would not intervene to prevent others from assaulting her.
In late November or early December 2024, a police officer with badge number 057865 subjected Yang Li to interrogation, forcibly covering her mouth and twisting her arms, causing bleeding in the mouth, swelling of the cheeks, and bruising of the arms. Yang Li’s request for a medical examination was denied thereafter.
On May 29, 2025, during negotiations with the director of the detention center’s prosecutor’s office Jiang Guonian, Yang Li’s request for medication was denied. She also requested accurate record-keeping of the conversations, similarly rejected, and was then confined to a solitary cell of about 2 square meters for a month. She was splashed with cold water without change of clothes, leading to prolonged exhaustion and immobility, a hunger strike for 12 days, and tube feeding for another 12 days.
On December 29, 2025 — the day before her release — Yang Li was critically ill and urgently needed dialysis, but official medical treatment was still denied. The authorities in Changzhou attempted to shift the blame, stating that Yang Li’s creatinine levels had exceeded 800 µmol/L, posing an immediate life threat, and urged for her parents to take her to the hospital for emergency treatment.