China: outspoken publisher, her husband detained
Event- Country
- China
- Initial Date
- Sep 9, 2020
- Event Description
Beijing police seized publisher Geng Xiaonan (耿潇男) and her husband Qin Zhen (秦真) on September 9. Both have been criminally detained on suspicion of “illegal business activity” and are being held at Haidian District Detention Center. Geng had alerted the world to the July detention of then-Tsinghua University professor and outspoken critic of Xi Jinping, Xu Zhangrun (许章润). Geng had organized the trip which Xu attended and which police later accused him of “soliciting prostitutes” while on. She has also tried to raise awareness of the ongoing enforced disappearance of citizen journalist Chen Qiushi (陈秋实), who reported from Wuhan during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been missing in police custody since February 6. Authorities recently began an investigation into her and her husband’s publishing company, Ruiya Books (北京瑞雅文化传播有限公司), in what appears to be retaliation for her speaking out.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Online
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 39.838029437607844
Longitude: 116.35965014925364
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 9 September 2020, Geng Xiaonan, WHRD, and Qin Zhen, her husband, were apprehended by the police and criminally deteined while awaiting trial for supporting targeted pro-democracy defenders in Beijing, China.
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