Eight years ago, Hu Yaying, a resident of Changzhou, Jiangsu, went to petition due to a medical accident and died after being detained by the police for 27 days. Her husband also died after being illegally detained for 80 days. Their only disabled daughter cried out for justice for her mother, enduring long-term surveillance by local authorities, making her life unbearable.
Hu Qingmei is a second-grade physically disabled person. For the past eight years, she has been monitored by various local units such as Liangxi Sub-bureau, Liangxi Petition Bureau, Guangyi Street Office, and Jianghai Police Station while advocating for her mother’s rights. She has been restricted of personal freedom by unidentified individuals for more than 500 days.
Hu Qingmei said, “I don’t know how to proceed from here. Which way to go?”
Here is Hu Qingmei’s account of her family’s ordeal:
In the year 2000, Hu Qingmei’s mother, Hu Yaying, experienced a medical accident while receiving treatment at Zhonglou Hospital in Changzhou. Due to the lack of judicial fair judgement, she began to petition.
On March 4, 2016, Hu Qingmei and her mother petitioned at the Intermediate People’s Court of Changzhou. After the police from Hongmei Police Station in Changzhou arrived, they took Hu Yaying away, claiming she was disrupting public order. Hu Qingmei recalled, “I didn’t know what was happening. I saw 120 taking my mother away. Later, the police told me: ‘Your mother is undergoing interrogation, and family members are not allowed to visit her.’ After that, I never saw her again.”
Hu Qingmei continued, “27 days later, the police in Changzhou came to my house and said my mother had passed away. They accused me of abandoning my mother and charged me with abandonment, forcing my father to sign on the cremation form (bearing my mother’s body).”
“I was stunned. How could a perfectly fine person disappear? How did it happen? Was she beaten? Starved?… It definitely was not suicide. My mother knew that she had a disabled daughter who needed her care and a loving husband waiting for her at home. I disagreed with cremation, so I went to petition.” she said.
In 2017, Hu Qingmei rushed into the State Council of Zhongnanhai to petition, but was handed over by Beijing police to the local government and later illegally detained at home with her father. Twelve black security guards took turns monitoring them 24 hours a day.
“The black security guards didn’t give my father food. After 80 days, my over eighty-year-old father’s health deteriorated and he was sent to the hospital. Before my father passed away, they threatened him (my father), saying he had to sign the cremation of my mother’s body, otherwise they would harm me or make me rot in prison. My father had no choice but to sign, then he passed away.”
Hu Qingmei revealed that during the cremation process, she lifted a corner of the white cloth covering her mother’s face at the funeral home and saw that her mother’s left eye was missing.
On March 30, 2017, Hongmei Police Station concluded that Hu Yaying’s death was due to natural causes and handed the remains over to Hu Qingmei after cremation.
In her quest to uncover the truth about her mother’s death, Hu Qingmei has been administratively detained six times for baseless accusations of “provoking trouble” and criminally detained twice over the past eight years.
She said, “In the detention center, they detained me with AIDS patients, didn’t provide hygiene products during my menstrual cycle, my pants were soaked with blood, and I was humiliated by being chained and shackled. I was released on bail awaiting trial seven times for seven consecutive years. The most recent bail release ended on May 28 this year. However, the police refused to issue me a certificate and threatened me with administrative detention.”
Last year, Hu Qingmei went to Beijing again but was detained for 36 days on charges of “provoking trouble” by local police, and her household computer and other items were confiscated. All her complaint materials were stolen. After her release, Hu Qingmei has been under constant surveillance by black security guards in front and behind her house 24 hours a day.
“Now they have complete control over me. As a disabled person, I can’t escape from them. If I want to go out, I can’t even buy a train ticket. If they can’t see me within an hour, they will come to find an excuse to see me to feel at ease. It has reached this level.”
Currently, Hu Qingmei can only seek justice and rights advocacy online. “I demand the Jiangsu Public Security Department and Prosecutor’s Office to criminally file and investigate the case of the murder of Hu Yaying by Changzhou’s Hongmei Police Station and provide me with a written response containing Hu Yaying’s cause of death certificate and autopsy report.”
Hu Qingmei acknowledges that it is difficult to seek justice for her mother, but she stated that this is the only thing she can do for her mother. She will not give up no matter how tough the situation becomes.