Frontline Defenders reports..
On the afternoon of 2 February 2021, human rights defender Ding Jiaxi spoke to his lawyer via a video link for the second time. Following the online meeting, Ding Jiaxi’s wife Luo Shengchun published on Twitter an account of the torture and ill-treatment he said he was subjected to during six months of secret, incommunicado detention under “residential surveillance at a designated location” (RSDL) between December 2019 and June 2020. The Yantai Municipal Public Security Bureau in Shandong province is believed to be the entity responsible for his RSDL during this period. The exact location of the RSDL is not known.
Ding Jiaxi said he was subjected to sleep deprivation and prolonged interrogations for 73 days. After the beginning of the Lunar New Year holidays in late January 2020, the authorities played a political propaganda film at the highest volume 24 hours every day for ten straight days. The human rights defender said he did not see sunlight for six months and a fluorescent lamp in his cell was turned on 24 hours a day. He was not allowed to shower or brush his teeth. When he went to the toilet and out to the hallways, a black hood was placed over his head.
Ding Jiaxi said he refused to provide any information or answer any questions for the first 103 days of the RSDL. Between 1 and 8 April 2020, the human rights defender said he was interrogated while he was strapped tightly around the chest and stomach to a torture device known as a “tiger chair”, making breathing very difficult. Eight interrogators divided into four groups took turns interrogating him from 9:00am to 6:00am the next day. Between 6:00am-9:00am, he was allowed to eat, walk around and use the toilet, but not allowed to sleep. On the morning of 7 April 2020, his feet were swollen and severely ached as a result of his sitting in the tiger chair for a long time. He told his interrogators he would answer their questions on four conditions: he would only talk about the Xiamen meeting in December 2019, which he attended and which triggered a mass crackdown on its attendees; he would discuss the facts but would not admit guilt; he would not accept representation by government-appointed lawyers; and that he should be allowed to sleep.
The interrogators at first agreed to his demands, but resumed round-the-clock interrogations from 28 April 2020 until 6 May 2020. During this period, he said he was allowed to sleep for only four hours from 2:00am to 6:00am. He became very weak and fainted twice.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the torture and ill-treatment of human rights defender Ding Jiaxi and calls on all relevant authorities in China to release him immediately. Pending his release, the authorities should cease and refrain from further torture or ill-treatment against him and to put in place effective measures to prevent their reoccurrence. It also calls on the authorities to launch an independent, impartial, thorough, prompt and effective investigation into his torture and ill-treatment and bring perpetrators to justice in accordance with Chinese law and international human rights law. Front Line Defenders reminds the Chinese government it is a State Party to the Convention Against Torture, and that torture is prohibited absolutely at all time and in all circumstances.
