Hunan dissident Ou Biaofeng designated for residential surveillance for allegedly “subverting state power
Hunan dissident Ou Biaofeng, who is under administrative detention, has been charged with “subversion of state power” instead of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and is now under residential surveillance. The public security authorities also found several copies of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily in his car, which is believed to be used to convict him.
Ou Biao Feng, who was placed under administrative detention earlier this month, was scheduled to regain his freedom last Saturday (19). His wife, Wei Huanhuan, was surprised that her husband was suddenly assigned to residential surveillance.
The company’s main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. This time because of the administrative detention in front of the front to do pavement, thought this will end here, did not expect to come to the most severe punishment. I don’t know if he will be subjected to torture and abuse when he is under residential surveillance. I don’t know how he will be sentenced for his crime in the future, I’m afraid it will take too long and I’m also worried about implicating other friends. Our children are also very young, one is two years old and the other is more than three years old, so we are definitely worried about that.”
Ou Biao Feng’s wife Wei Huanhuan (second from right) is worried that she and her two young children will be implicated. (Exclusive courtesy of Chen Siming)
On the eve of the expiration of Ou Biaofeng’s detention, more than a dozen public security officers visited his home and verbally informed him that he had been “upgraded” from administrative detention to “designated residential surveillance” and that the charges had changed from provocation to subversion of state power.
Wei Huanhuan: “They took some of Ou Biaofeng’s things from his home, including computers, cell phones, CDs, calligraphy and paintings. The state security told me that he was now designated for residential surveillance because he was suspected of subverting state power. I was given some warnings, ‘Don’t give interviews, you know you can’t hire a lawyer for this crime, don’t release information to the public, don’t do anything, otherwise it won’t be good for your family and Ou Biao Feng.'”
Public Security also found several newspapers from Hong Kong that are likely to be incriminating evidence against Ou Biao Feng.
Wei Huanhuan: “The Apple Daily was found from the trunk of his car, a few copies from August 11 to 14, with the main content on it about Lai Chi Ying. I vaguely heard him say that he had asked a friend to bring it over from Hong Kong. Maybe they (public security) also do not know
They were mainly looking for his laptop, because the search warrant said his residence, and then the vehicle was also turned over, and found this thing.”
After Next Media’s headquarters building was searched on Aug. 10, Ou asked a friend to mail several copies of Apple Daily to Zhuzhou, Hunan province, after which he tweeted a message of solidarity with Next Media founder Lai Chi-ying and showed a photo of himself holding the front page of Apple Daily. The source, who requested anonymity, believes that O’Brien’s alleged incitement is directly related to these actions.
The source said, “There must be some degree of connection between subversion and this. Basically, it’s the same crime as subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law. Now the situation in Hong Kong you also know. The new national security law, Huang Zhifeng and Lai Zhiying and other people’s previous behavior, under the rule of law in Hong Kong before, are normal legal and reasonable behavior, but now they are put in jail. Take the words to the country, basically this is what it means. I wonder if they will be branded as counter-revolutionaries?”
A lawyer commissioned by the family earlier requested to meet with Ou Biao Feng but was refused. No one knows where Ou Biao Feng is at the moment.
This is the scariest thing about the residential surveillance: you don’t know where he is. This is a place outside the law. The most important thing is that you don’t know where you are. You don’t know what’s going on. “
Ou Biao Feng has long been concerned about social injustice, and has also publicly expressed solidarity with Hong Kong’s anti-Send China movement. Hunan “ink throwing girl” Dong Yaoqiong recently uploaded a short film in the social media, and she has close ties with the Ou Biao Feng had been taken away from the Ningxiang apartment by the public security.
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