ICC Note:

Chinese authorities have finally admitted to detaining Christian human rights activist Jiang Tianyong, weeks after his disappearance. Chinese law requires police to notify the family within 24 hours of detention. Although his family has yet to receive notification, a state–funded media source confirmed that he was being held for “illegally possessing documents classified as state secrets” and “illegally disseminating state secrets to overseas [sources].” Jiang was originally detained for attempting to use fake identification to buy a ticket. He was placed under 9 days of administrative detention and has technically been released although it is unknown where he is being held now. His lawyer and his family have been unable to locate or contact him. Jiang’s lawyer said he used fake identification to buy tickets because he was not allowed to travel anywhere under his real name. Jiang’s wife, Jin Bianling, does not accept the charges and fears that he was “probably subjected to severe torture to force such a confession.” Jiang was tortured two days in 2011, had his eardrum perforated while being beaten in 2012, and his leg was broken in several locations due to a beating in 2014.

12/19/2016 China (Asia News) – After forcibly disappearing the human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong for 25 days, Chinese authorities finally confirmed that he is in police custody under “compulsory criminal measures.” According to the state media report, public security officers took Jiang into custody on November 21 and gave him a nine-day administrative detention for “fraudulent use of another person’s ID.”

On December 1, he was then placed under “compulsory criminal measures” for “illegally possessing documents classified as state secrets” (Article 282 Criminal Law) and “illegally disseminating state secrets to overseas [sources]” (Article 111) and other unnamed “crimes.” Jiang could face life imprisonment if convicted of Article 111 and authorities considered the conditions to be “especially serious.”

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