Unable to walk, in detention, facing criminal charges

Ni Yulan is a Beijing-based tenant-rights legal activist who has spent over a decade defending the rights of clients subjected to forced evictions. In the process, she has been arrested, convicted, crippled, disbarred, and left homeless herself after the unlawful destruction of her home. Ms. Ni and her husband were seized by police in April of 2011. She was convicted in April 2012 of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and “fraud”, in which the fraud conviction was overturned in July 2012, reducing her two-year and eight-month prison term by two months.

Ni Yulan, born in 1961, is a Beijing-based tenant-rights legal activist who has spent over a decade defending the rights of clients subjected to forced evictions. In the process, she has been arrested, convicted, crippled, disbarred, and left homeless herself after the unlawful destruction of her home.

After Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games, the city underwent extensive development that included the eviction of hundreds of thousands of residents and their relocation to peripheral suburbs. Ni took on many cases for dispossessed tenants. On April 27, 2002, the police took Ni into custody for filming the forced demolition of a client’s home. Ni was detained for 75 days, and so badly beaten that she has never recovered the ability to walk without a cane or crutches.

Upon her release, on Sept. 27, 2002, Ni petitioned the Beijing National People’s Congress Standing Committee for redress for the unlawful beatings. Instead, she was again arrested and charged with “obstructing public duty.” Her criminal conviction on this charge resulted in a one-year prison sentence and the permanent revocation of her professional lawyer’s license.

After her release, Ni was subjected to continuing harassment by the police. In August of 2004, when she and housing activist Ye Guozhu filed an application to hold a tenant-rights demonstration, they were detained by police. On Nov.15, 2005, police warned her not to leave her home during President Bush’s visit to China. Two days later, she was attacked while walking in a nearby park; when she reported the attack to police, she was once again arrested. In March 2007, she was placed under house arrest for the duration of the National People’s Congress.

On April 15, 2008, a police-directed demolition crew knocked down a wall surrounding Ni’s home. She was hit in the head with a brick and dragged away; then she was arrested for filing a “false report” about the previous assault and she and her husband were both detained. Her husband was released after several days, but Ni was formally charged and convicted of “obstructing public duty,” this time receiving a sentence of two years. Her home was completely demolished in November of 2008. For a year of her sentence, she was denied the use of crutches and forced to crawl around the prison facility.

Ni was released in April of 2010. The following summer, fellow activists helped Ni and her husband move into the Yuxingong Guesthouse. During December of 2010 and January of 2011, their electricity, water, phone, and internet service were repeatedly cut off as police pressured them to leave.

In April 2011, Ni and her husband were seized by police in the middle of the night. After a December 2011 trial, she was convicted in April 2012 of “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” and “fraud,” leading to a prison sentence of two years and eight months, as well as a 1,000-yuan fine. Ni’s husband, Dong Jiqin, was also sentenced to two years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” Ni filed an appeal and in July of 2012, an appellate court overturned her fraud conviction, but upheld her other conviction for “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” The court reduced her two-year and eight-month prison term by two months. The court also upheld the conviction and sentence of Ni’s husband. Both are now in prison.

Last updated September 25, 2012

China Human Rights Defenders, “Emergency Shelter - A Documentary about Ni Yulan,” available at http://chrdnet.org/2010/06/21/emergency-shelter-a-documentary-about-ni-yulan/ (video in Chinese).

Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the on the situation of
human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, Addendum, Summary of cases transmitted to Governments and replies received, ¶609-11, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/10/12/Add.1 (March 4, 2009), available at http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/10session/reports.htm.