[Ni Rong] The “Strike-Hard” campaign launched by the central government in the early 1980s led to the imprisonment of many innocent people. Fujian citizen Ni Rong was detained at the scene of an arrest of a thief. He spent four days in intensive care after being tortured. He was not allowed to hire a lawyer. The court of Yong’an County (now Yong’an City), Fujian Province, tried him in secret proceedings that lasted for only two or three minutes, heard by a “judge” who was in fact a manager from a food service company. Ni was sentenced to eight years for robbery. On December 4, 1983, he was sent to Siying coal mine in Songmin County, Yunnan Province, to serve his sentence. Because he refused to admit guilt and continued to appeal the judgment, Ni received no deduction from his sentence, and finished serving his time on August 12, 1991.
Since 1984, he has been appealing to various government departments at different levels. To date, he has only received notices that “his appeal was received and transferred to relevant departments”; there has been no investigation into his case. After his release, Ni has not been able to find steady work. He does not have social or health insurance and is having a hard time. He hopes that the relevant government agencies can redress the miscarriage of justice that he suffered.
