Jiangsu Province Jin Tan District petitioner Yang Li, who was accused of disrupting the work order of state organs for petitioning due to land requisition, appeared in court on April 21st. She was escorted into the courtroom by two judicial police officers due to her worsening kidney disease. During the trial, she had a heart attack, and after emergency treatment by doctors, the trial continued until 6:30 in the evening.
On the day of the trial, a police cordon was set up around the Jin Tan District Court to prevent people from approaching. Inside the courtroom and in the public seating area, there were only public officials with work badges. Plainclothes police officers who had been involved in intercepting petitioners and street workers were also present.
Due to the worsening condition of her kidney disease and her physical weakness, Yang Li was escorted into the courtroom by two judicial police officers. About 30 minutes into the trial, Yang Li had a heart attack that occurred after she was criminally detained last October. Doctors intervened, and the trial continued after medical attention was given.
During the trial, prosecutor Liu Zhan used the transcripts of Yang Li’s ex-husband and sister, with whom she had lost contact for over ten years, to smear Yang Li as unreasonable and disruptive during her divorce, in an attempt to prove her guilt in petitioning (disturbance petition).
Yang Li’s sister Yang Caiying in Japan told Epoch Times, “My father was furious at the use of this old wound to attack my sister, and he scolded prosecutor Liu Zhan and two other prosecutors, ‘What does her ex-husband have to do with this case? I feel like giving you a slap out of anger.’ Liu Zhan and the others remained silent.”
“My sister suffered from kidney disease over ten years ago and was abandoned by her ex-husband. When my sister reported the criminal abandonment to the police, they refused to file a case. The other party then sued for divorce citing property transfer, and the court made an unjust decision. Due to this, my sister knelt outside the Intermediate People’s Court in Changzhou with her illness to plead for justice.”
“At the time, the police station chief responsible for handling the criminal abandonment case was Luan Liukang, who was appointed as the head of the Xicheng Street Office, our local area, at the beginning of 2024. Before that, he was the deputy director of the Jin Tan Public Security Sub-bureau and had threatened my sister during a midnight WeChat call in September 2023, saying that if my sister went near Zhongnanhai again, she would face criminal charges, regardless of any wrongdoing,” she said.
During the trial, Liu Zhan and others also presented a large number of screenshots of Yang Caiying’s tweets to defame her as anti-China. Their father, Yang Guoliang, strongly accused, “Corrupt officials and police officers who use violence to persecute the people are the real anti-China, anti-people, and anti-communist. They are the ones eating the Communist Party’s food and shifting the blame onto the Party.”
Facing Yang Guoliang’s defense and accusations, prosecutor Liu Zhan remained silent and repeatedly stated that Yang Li’s petitioning was a crime.
To support her sister Yang Li, Yang Caiying openly offered a reward on April 19th to collect information about the corrupt officials and their spouses involved in fabricating false cases, such as Ma Yunpeng, Liu Zhan, Wang Nannan, under the jurisdiction of Chen Jinh…
Before the trial began, Yang Guoliang, as the legal representative of Yang Li, met with Judge Wang Nannan on April 18th to request a meeting with Yang Li to understand the case. Wang Nannan refused to arrange a meeting and did not provide a reason. “Forced to do so, I had to offer a reward publicly to gather information about the illegal activities of officials like Ma Yunpeng, and their spouses, under the jurisdiction of the Jin Tan District Public Security Bureau, Prosecutor’s Office, and Court,” Yang Caiying said.
Yang Caiying also made a public plea in front of the Japanese consulate in Japan to the highest leader of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping, saying, “Please give the petitioners a way out.” She called on Wang Xiaohong of the Ministry of Public Security and Chen Wenqing of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, saying, “Police should not be the tools of power, and justice should not be a means of persecution.” The entire event was livestreamed.
Yang Li and her mother, Xu Dongqing, petitioned to protect their rights due to the illegal land requisition by the government of Jin Tan District. On October 12th and 19th, 2024, the mother and daughter were arrested by orders from Jiangsu officials when they went to Beijing seeking help from Xi Jinping in Zhongnanhai. On November 26th of the same year, Yang Li was arrested by the prosecutor’s office of Jin Tan District in Changzhou on charges of disrupting the work order of state organs, and the trial began on January 24, 2025. The court session on April 21, 2025.