Jiang Tianyong was sentenced to two years in prison for inciting subversion of state power after being tortured and placed under residential surveillance by the Chinese Communist Party authorities four years ago for defending the “709 lawyers. However, he was subsequently placed under illegal surveillance and house arrest by local state security in his hometown in Henan Province.
Jiang Tianyong’s wife, Jin Changling, who lives in exile in the United States, told Radio Free Asia that Jiang Tianyong’s health has been poor since his release from prison due to the torture, but even so, the state security guards have not relaxed their surveillance of him: “Jiang Tianyong has been under house arrest at his Parents‘ Home since his release from prison, and he does not want to go out because of his health. The state security 24 hours a day surveillance, on the intersection near his parents’ home built a small house, as long as Jiang Tianyong go out, they will be close tracking, not a person, is a lot of people tracking.”
Jin said that Jiang Tianyong was beaten and tortured during his sentence, resulting in serious leg injuries, unable to stand, after release from prison many times before medical treatment, but the state security repeatedly obstructed doctors: “He now wants to go to the hospital, the state security are followed, to the hospital after the state security and hospital people greeted, there is no way to treat. The doctor can only say that Jiang Tianyong is not sick. Jiang Tianyong under surveillance can only be in his parents’ home, can not go far away.”
Jin said, with the approach of the two sessions, the local state security to further tighten the monitoring of Jiang Tianyong, including the original dozen cameras to continue to install: “his house in front of the house, next to the road are all monitoring. I don’t know what they are afraid of.”
Jin believes that the reckless house arrests and surveillance shifts by state security officers were intended to provoke Jiang Tianyong into irrational behavior, which could then be used as an excuse to arrest him at will.
Jiang Tianyong has been repeatedly suppressed by the authorities and arrested several times for his long-term involvement in rights defense actions such as the rescue of AIDS-infected people, the black brick kiln case in Shanxi, the direct election of lawyers in Beijing, and the Falun Gong case: in 2009, his lawyer’s license was revoked by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice; in March 2014, he was detained and beaten by the police for visiting the black prison in Jiansanjiang, Heilongjiang, resulting in eight broken ribs; in November 2016, he was arrested for visiting the second Changsha In November 2016, he went to Changsha No. 2 Detention Center to meet with Xie Yang, a lawyer detained in the 709 case, and to visit Chen Guiqiu, Xie Yang’s wife, but was kidnapped on the way back and disappeared for a while. In December 2016, he was finally placed under residential surveillance by the Changsha police on suspicion of incitement, and the Chinese Communist Party changed the charges three times before sentencing Jiang Tianyong to two years in prison for incitement in November 2017.
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