Petitioner Recounts Being Held in a Black Jail for 50 Days

Xu Shunmei (徐顺妹), a petitioner from Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, had attempted to petition in Beijing to reveal the seizure of her village’s land by local government through the collusion between local government officials and businesses. She recounts in this video, which is in Chinese, her experience.

On February 19, 2011, Xu Shunmei was taken from the Changzhou train platform by the local police, officials from the local Bureau of Letters and Calls, and personnel from the Demolition Bureau, and was held in a black jail, Wujin Jiaotong Guest House. There, she was searched, smashed against the wall, and forced to sign a guarantee that she would not go to Beijing to petition again. On April 2, she was transferred to a local detention center to serve 7 days of administrative detention. After her release on April 4, 2011, she attempted to file a case at various courts – from the Changzhou courts to the Jiangsu provincial courts to the Supreme People’s Court – but was ignored.