On December 4th, Jim Tengfu, a citizen of Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, was taken away by the police in Dujiangyan while attending a Constitution exchange event and later detained for 8 days by the Neijiang City Zhongqu Public Security Bureau on suspicion of provoking trouble.
According to a Sichuan petitioner who posted in a WeChat group, French President Macron arrived in Chengdu on the evening of December 4th. The next morning, Macron went for a jog at Jincheng Lake and later was set to have an informal meeting with Xi Jinping in Chengdu. After that, Macron visited Sichuan University. Tengfu’s arrest was believed to be related to this event, raising concerns that his presence at places visited by Macron could cause trouble for the Neijiang authorities.
A citizen named Wang stated, “On December 4th, Tengfu went out to Dujiangyan to engage in Constitution exchanges and went missing after being asked to return home by Zhang Long, the mayor of Quan’an Town. His wife, Wang Yicui, received a call from the police on December 5th, informing her of Tengfu’s detention.”
Wang Yicui shared in a WeChat group, “On the night of December 5th, I received a call from a police officer claiming to be from the Security Brigade of the Zhongqu Public Security Bureau, informing me that Tengfu had been detained for 8 days for provoking trouble. The officer did not disclose his name or badge number, refused to explain the reason for Tengfu’s detention, and hung up on me. Subsequent calls went unanswered.”
The “Administrative Penalty Decision” of the Zhongqu Sub-Bureau of the Neijiang City Public Security Bureau stated that from October 2024 to the present, Tengfu had repeatedly made unreasonable demands to various departments, including the Quan’an Town government and petition offices, such as seeking justice for his wife, Wang Yicui, demanding the resolution of his family’s difficulties by the Zhongqu Sub-Bureau government, and claiming that his petitions were related to national affairs, demanding payment for managing national affairs from the Quan’an Town government.
The decision also mentioned that in the absence of satisfaction with his demands, Tengfu had repeatedly pressured the Zhongqu Sub-Bureau government and petition offices during national holidays and major national events in Beijing, demanding a total of 12,000 RMB and forcing the government to construct two oversized chicken coops in his home, disrupting the normal office order of Quan’an Town government.
Wang Yicui, who was released from prison at the end of June, said to the journalist of Dajiyuan, “I was unlawfully detained for four years, released only five months ago, and many things are still unclear. The construction of the chicken coops was in accordance with national policy, and the 12,000 RMB mentioned in the penalty decision may have been a previous subsidy for our difficulties.”
A petitioner known as “Descendant of a Soldier” stated, “The decision claims that Tengfu disturbed local order by petitioning at the national petition bureau in Beijing. This is an abuse of power to retaliate against petitioners. We may legally appeal against the director of the Zhongqu Public Security Bureau.”
Wang Yicui, who had been twice imprisoned for a total of 7 years due to the destruction of her house by village bullies attempting to seize her home site, mentioned that despite petitioning from the local to the central government over a decade without success, she and her husband, Tengfu, endured persecution.
She said that since her release, she had been seeking medical treatment and evading continuous surveillance and persecution from the authorities. At the time of Tengfu’s incident, she was away. She declared that she would not commit suicide, and if any accident happened, it must be murder. If she lost contact, she urged everyone to call the police.
A petitioner named Chen expressed, “Local governments engage in corruption, abuse power to retaliate against whistleblowers and their families… with no hope in sight!”
Wang also added, “The corrupt practices of the police, government, and judiciary have made the people suffer unbearably!”