Guangdong petitioner Yang Jiahao, who was just released from prison in July, had been abducted and sentenced to two years in prison two years ago after reporting officials in Beijing.
After his release on July 28th, Yang Jiahao was filled with mixed emotions after the two-year ordeal. He expressed, “This society, this country is too numb!”
Originally from Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, Yang Jiahao currently resides in Li Jinghuayuan, Huangcun, Tianhe District, Guangzhou. Since 2016, he has been involved in five false and wrongful cases fabricated by judicial authorities in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. From 2021, he started reporting and accusing to Beijing, but none of the cases have been resolved.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, each time Yang Jiahao attempted to go to Beijing, he was obstructed, eventually being assigned a red code, house arrest, and other stability maintenance measures at home. His communication, internet, social media accounts, financial accounts, and telecommunications were all severely controlled by the authorities, making it impossible for him to live a normal life and seek relief through complaint channels.
In 2023, when he went to Beijing again to report and accuse, he was kidnapped, falsely charged with “provoking trouble,” and sentenced to two years in prison, adding to his unresolved old case with new wrongful accusations.
On July 28th, 2023, after Yang Jiahao went to the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing to address the issues, he was followed by authorities from Guangzhou. When he arrived at a remote location, he was abducted by several men. He told a reporter from Dajiyuan, “In about less than 5 seconds, I lost my freedom until now.”
After being kidnapped for a day and night, he was sent back to Guangzhou and detained at Tianhe Detention Center. “During the detention, I was unable to seek help from the outside world. All my reports and calls for help were intercepted. Because I accused the local police station in Tianhe, they simply did not comply with the law.”
He said, “In the detention center, the prosecutors, judges, and police colluded with each other, abused legal procedures, continuously extended my detention through various excuses, and ultimately, at the last moment, openly violated the law and facts by intentionally not collecting the necessary evidence, covering up the truth, coercing false testimonies, and fabricated another false criminal charge. They blatantly committed criminal acts, unfairly sentenced me to 2 years in prison.”
“In the second trial, they continued to refuse to collect evidence to cover up the truth with the absurd reasoning that ‘existing evidence is sufficient to prove the crime, so there is no need to collect more evidence.’ They also issued an administrative order instructing the legal aid office not to defend me in court without my consent, terminated the legal aid unilaterally without notification despite having a contractual agreement, exhausted the 2-month review period without a verdict, postponed the case by another month citing complexity, refused to hold court sessions, and eventually, without lawyers and without review by the municipal prosecutor, turned the false judgement into a final verdict.”
Yang Jiahao launched a comprehensive appeal, complaint, accusation, and requested to see legal aid for clarification, but was swiftly sent to prison. “This is an extremely despicable and utterly absurd organized and planned collective criminal act involving black and evil forces. It is a real-life version of the infamous Wang Li’s statement, ‘I have 100 ways to deal with criminal petitioners,’ and a replay of the Ma Shushan case in Tangshan, Hebei.”
He further stated, “After my release from prison, I am still facing threats and intimidation in a roundabout manner, living every day under the shadow of injustice, afraid to seek justice.”