Shaanxi lawyer Chang Wei Ping has been placed under residential surveillance for the second time. His parents, concerned about their son’s torture, went to the Public Security Bureau to protest, and were summoned several times by Shaanxi police on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Several of Chang’s friends and relatives have also been steadily charged and threatened.
According to Minsheng Watch, on December 14, Chang Wei Ping’s parents went to the Gaoxin Branch of the Baoji Public Security Bureau in Shaanxi Province and held up a sign protesting against torture, with the words “Save my son from torture” and “Live with my son according to the law”. In the following days, the two old men were summoned several times on suspicion of “provocation and nuisance”.
Chang’s father, Chang Shuanming, said that he was scolded from the beginning to the end by Meng Maishang, the director of the high-tech branch, and threatened several times: “What you did was ordered by your daughter-in-law, and your daughter-in-law will be subjected to coercive measures.”
These words made Chang Wei Ping’s parents worry about the situation of their daughter-in-law and grandson.
The residence of Chang Wei Ping’s parents in their hometown in Fengxiang County has been installed with high-definition cameras since the night of December 18. The monitoring room is located in the village committee and is monitored in real time by the town police. As soon as someone comes to visit the family, the police appear, reprimanding and questioning the visitors, asking them to register their ID numbers and workplaces, and their words are full of threats.
The two elderly people’s freedom was restricted and their cell phones were confiscated by the High-tech Branch, so they could not contact the outside world.
In addition, Chang Wei Ping’s father-in-law was also confiscated cell phone, was confined at home, guarded by a person, need to call the report to go out.
Chang Wei Ping’s eldest brother-in-law’s cell phone was confiscated and the family was threatened not to participate in related events, otherwise it would affect their son’s college entrance exams for civil service.
The second sister and brother-in-law, who teach in Fengxiang County, were interviewed three times by the county education bureau last week, and this week Chang’s second brother-in-law was assigned to “work” at Chang’s parents’ home 24 hours a day by the county education bureau, responsible for monitoring and reporting the activities of Chang’s parents.
Some commentators have denounced the CCP’s crackdown on Chang’s family as a modern-day version of “connecting the nine clans”, a naked violation of human rights and a trampling of the law.
On January 14, Chang Wei-ping’s wife received a call from the State Security Brigade of the Communist Party’s High-Tech Branch, and was told that Chang Wei-ping had been placed under residential surveillance on charges of endangering national security.
On October 16, Chang Wei-ping uploaded a short video disclosing the torture he was subjected to while under residential surveillance: “I was chained to a tiger bench in the guest house of the Baotian Hotel, 24 hours a day for 10 days, which was an extreme form of torture. The damage done to me is that the index and ring fingers of my right hand are still numb, unconscious or have abnormal perception to this day.”
Shortly after the video was released, Chang Wei Ping lost his freedom again.
Chang Shuanming visited his son at the police station this month and found him visibly thin and unresponsive. That’s how the couple later went to the police station to hang a sign in protest.
“Du Song, director general of the China Rights Lawyers Concern Group, told Radio Free Asia that the two seniors had no choice but to do so: “What is the grievance they want to cry out about? It is about the torture of Chang Wei Ping’s lawyers. The torture has reached a certain level, and it is very necessary to express it in this way.”
Radio Free Asia also quoted anonymous sources as saying that the family has hired at least four lawyers for Chang Wei-ping, but they have not been able to intervene in the case, neither have they seen the case file nor been allowed to meet their clients, and individual lawyers have been threatened by the State Security and Judicial Bureau afterwards.
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