HRIC has learned that that Lü Gengsong (吕耿松), a core member of the China Democracy Party’s Zhejiang Committee, was arrested today and is being charged with “subversion of state power” (颠覆国家政权罪). He was criminally detained on suspicion of the same charge on July 7, and is being held at the Hangzhou Detention Center (杭州市看守所).

If convicted, Lü faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

To date, Lü has been in detention for 37 days. According to informed sources, he has not been permitted to see his family members, and the Hangzhou police have denied requests by his lawyer, Mo Shaoping, to meet with Lü.

Sources also confirm that Lü’s wife, Wang Xue’e (汪雪娥), and their daughter have been under round-the-clock surveillance, and are being followed whenever they leave their home.

Lü, a veteran democracy activist, was released from prison in August 2011, after serving a four-year sentence on “inciting subversion of state power.”