On April 12, 2024, dissident He Zongwang, from Fuqing, faced charges of assaulting a police officer in a court session at the Fuqing City Court. The Fujian authorities aggressively apprehended individuals who came to listen in on the proceedings, even forcibly entering homes in the middle of the night to take people away, while others were constrained in their homes and not allowed to leave.
According to an informant who preferred to remain anonymous and spoke to a reporter, around twenty people he knew were arrested that day, with many others who were not familiar to him also facing restrictions at home. He condemned the indiscriminate exercise of power by the authorities, stating that preventing people from listening in should have been handled with a simple warning or expulsion, rather than resorting to harsh and aggressive arrests and detentions.
In the early hours of April 12, plainclothes officers and auxiliary police forcefully entered the home of local resident Chen Guang in Fuqing, taking him from his sleep to the Fuqing City Public Security Bureau for questioning at the Longtian Police Station.
Chen Guang later recounted his experience to a reporter, explaining how he was stripped of his personal belongings at the center, subjected to physical examination, made to wear prisoner’s clothing, and then interrogated in a recording room. After approximately eight hours of detention, he was subjected to further tests like urine analysis, photography, fingerprinting, blood sampling, and eventually coerced into signing an administrative penalty decision document.
The police misled Chen Guang by claiming that other supporters had been detained but he was receiving special treatment with just a warning; however, they warned that any future trips to Beijing would result in his detention. They also coaxed him into acknowledging the administrative penalty decision without debate on the document.
Chen Guang expressed his belief that the assault on police charges against He Zongwang was merely a form of retaliation and suppression by the authorities. He accused them of fabricating charges against him for alleged disruption of unit order, using legal documents to carry out rogue actions, which he found despicable.
He described the distress caused to his family, especially to his daughter, who had never experienced such a situation before and was deeply affected by the events on the day of the incident.
Another individual, Ms. Lin, a visitor from Fuzhou, shared her perspective, linking the assault charges against He Zongwang to the suspicious death of another activist named Ye Zhong. She claimed that the authorities were seeking revenge against those who sought justice for Ye Zhong, and highlighted the efforts to suppress and control information on the case through media censorship and foreign reports.
Online commentators criticized the heavy-handed approach of the Fuqing authorities, who deployed heavily armed police to forcibly detain individuals seeking to attend the court session, questioning the motives behind such oppressive actions.
Some visitors who managed to reach the Fuqing Wanda Plaza faced a similar fate, being surrounded by a group of police officers carrying firearms and then taken to detention facilities.
Ms. Lin raised concerns about the lack of rule of law in a country where authorities could disregard human rights without consequences, leading to the death of a rights activist and further suppression of individuals like He Zongwang. She questioned the intentions behind detaining all attendees of a court session and emphasized the message it sends about the state of justice and freedom in China.
He Zongwang, a native of Fuqing, Fujian, was arrested on January 4, 2024, and later charged with assaulting a police officer in connection to the death of Ye Zhong during police custody in September 2023. Ye Zhong’s wife, Li Meiying, informed activists in Fuzhou about Ye Zhong’s death, which sparked a series of events leading to He Zongwang’s legal troubles.
He Zongwang’s case signifies a broader struggle for human rights and justice in China, with activists and dissenting voices continuing to face persecution and repression by the authorities, as highlighted by the events in Fuqing.