Independent journalists and writers such as Du Bin have endured mounting pressure in recent years as the CCP deepens its control over society.
A Chinese journalist whose work exposed human rights abuses committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been detained in Beijing for more than 100 days.
Du Bin, 54, was formally arrested in November last year, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. His case has been transferred to the procuratorate for examination and prosecution as of late January, the sources told The Epoch Times.
Du has been held at Shunyi Detention Center in Beijing since October, when he was taken by police from his residence, according to his sister and rights groups.
Authorities told his sister at the time that Du was detained under suspension for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” The vaguely worded charge is often used by the regime to target dissidents and human rights advocates.
Authorities are now pursuing a new charge that may “involve state leaders” after failing to find sufficient evidence to support the initial charge, according to people familiar with the matter.
Details about Du’s case, including what led to his arrest, remain unclear, with authorities citing “state secrecy” as the reason for refusing to provide information to his lawyer.
As a photographer and writer focused on uncovering the history that Beijing seeks to conceal, Du has been targeted by authorities for more than a decade, but this was the first time he had been formally arrested.
Du was taken into custody for 37 days in 2013. His friends told Amnesty International at the time that Du’s detention might have been linked to a documentary exposing the abuses women faced at Masanjia Labor Camp.
Located in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang, the detention facility is notorious for its horrific treatment of female detainees, especially those who refuse to renounce their faith in Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa.
By Dorothy Li
