中国人权律师团声明：强烈谴责南昌当局再次把李宜雪强制送精神病院

2025年1月4

Statement by the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Group: Strong Condemnation of Nanchang Authorities for Forcibly Sending Li Yixue to a Psychiatric Hospital Again

On December 22, 2024, the Xihu Branch of the Nanchang Public Security Bureau and the Nanpu Subdistrict Office of Xihu District jointly announced: Li Yixue was sent to the hospital by the street community according to laws and regulations.

We cannot help but ask:

Where has Li Yixue been sent this time, and which psychiatric hospital is involved? The authorities claim the transfer was done according to laws and regulations—what specific law or regulation justifies this? Defamation is a private prosecution case, so why did the Kuai Zixiang Police Station intervene in the dispute between Li Yixue and others? What is the family’s stance on Li Yixue being sent to the hospital? Could independent third-party interviews and disclosures shed light on this matter? Despite overwhelming public support for her, Li Yixue has once again been forcibly sent to a psychiatric hospital, triggering widespread concern across the internet. This time, millions of people are anxiously hoping she can leave the hospital mentally intact. Many lament that even with over a billion views and nationwide attention, one Li Yixue cannot be saved.

Such tragic outcomes are not unprecedented in recent years. In early 2022 and early 2023, widespread public attention and tens of billions of views could neither secure freedom for the "chained woman" nor uncover the truth about Hu Xinyu’s disappearance and death. However, compared to the imprisoned chained woman and the late Hu Xinyu, Li Yixue is relatively fortunate. She is young, vibrant, candid, and living freely. When she encounters injustice, she has the opportunity to use the law to defend her rights and leverage the internet to fight back against an oppressive system through public opinion. The courage and sincerity Li Yixue has shown in her resistance against tyranny have left a powerful and invaluable legacy in contemporary Chinese society.

Perhaps candid Li Yixue does not realize that the billion views have not saved her; rather, they have fueled the attention surrounding her second forced hospitalization. The target of the authorities is no longer just Li Yixue as an individual but rather an effort to assert the authority of violent institutions and regimes over public opinion and societal sentiment. This reflects the arrogance and tyranny of dictators. To borrow their own criticism of the former Soviet Union: “To strengthen fascist dictatorship domestically, they intensify their use of 'psychiatric hospitals' as tools to suppress the people.” Labeling dissidents as "mentally ill" and incarcerating them in psychiatric hospitals constitutes persecution comparable to, if not worse than, Hitler's concentration camps and prisons.

Online Reactions to the Li Yixue Incident Former journalist Zhao Lanjian posted on X (formerly Twitter) on December 20: “The Jiangxi provincial public security system has always handled sensitive cases in a mafia-like manner. Li Yixue has been persecuted to the point of disability by the Jiangxi Public Security Bureau. The Hu Xinyu case was also a fabricated sham orchestrated by the Jiangxi Public Security Department to deceive the public. Li Yixue’s exposure of Jiangxi’s psychiatric hospital reveals how the CCP uses psychiatric hospitals as tools of state violence to oppress ordinary citizens. Li Yixue’s testimony shows that the CCP system is committing crimes against humanity. This system must face judicial scrutiny and accountability to stop its atrocities against ordinary people.”

On December 23, Jieli Jian, who has also suffered from psychiatric hospital abuse, posted on X: “Every time I reopen the scars of being confined and abused in a psychiatric hospital, it’s a painful reminder, suffocating in agony. The caregivers in psychiatric hospitals are a thousand times more vicious than prison guards. The most evil tactic is to extract spinal fluid, turning victims into vegetative states or mentally disabled individuals, forcing families to sign for their discharge, and leaving them to die within a year. The so-called medical tests—bloodwork, CT scans, MRIs, urine tests—are often preparation for organ matching. Psychiatric hospitals are trading hubs for organs.”

On December 23, Chinese legal scholar Du Wen posted on X: “In any normal society, with independent judiciary oversight, media scrutiny, and effective checks on public power, such arbitrary detentions would not occur. But why are such incidents so rampant in China? Why do they keep happening? And why are lawsuits challenging wrongful ‘psychiatric detentions’ almost universally denied justice? The root lies in the CCP’s long-standing authoritarian rule. Its high-pressure stability maintenance system enables unchecked abuses, allowing hospitals, police, and local governments to collude and trample on citizens’ basic freedoms and dignity.”

The CCP’s Use of Psychiatric Hospitals for Political Persecution As early as 2002, renowned pro-democracy activist Hu Ping authored a monograph, Who Are the Lunatics? A New Tool of Political Persecution, exposing how both the Soviet Union and the CCP have used psychiatric hospitals for political persecution. Hu Ping wrote: “Political persecution in the guise of psychiatric treatment has two distinctive features. First, it bypasses the law and imposes extrajudicial punishment. It is even more cunning, insidious, and shameless than legal sentencing. Second, confinement in psychiatric hospitals is often more brutal than imprisonment because it involves using drugs and physical methods under the guise of treatment, directly destroying people’s nervous systems. This doesn’t cure normal people into health but instead turns them into the mentally ill.”

Significance of the Li Yixue Case An injustice to one is a threat to all. Our concern for Li Yixue is also a defense against being dragged into psychiatric hospitals without consent. Li Yixue’s fate has captured widespread concern and stands as a landmark event in contemporary Chinese history. The light sparked by Li Yixue will not be extinguished, for it represents the continuation of a sacred torch passed down through generations—a testament to universal civilization burning in the hearts of contemporary Chinese people.

Lawyers of the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Group January 4, 2025