The open letter (in Chinese) says that on September 19, Liu Ping (刘萍) and Wei Zhongping (魏忠平), rights defenders and independent candidates for the People’s Congress in Xinyu, Jiangxi, were detained, strip-searched, verbally abused, and beaten by the local police in an 11-hour-long ordeal. The police did not provide any legal basis for their actions.
The open letter demands that the local government punish the perpetrators, issue a public apology to the two victims, compensate for their losses, and provide them with medical treatment.
An earlier account (also in Chinese, following the open letter) by an informed source details the course of events leading up to the police violence against Liu and Wei. It says that on September 16 and September 18, Liu Ping, Wei Zhongping, and Li Sihua, also an independent candidate, took photos of a large “Oppose Japan, Defend Diaoyu Islands” protest march in Xinyu. The photos showed a large number of plainclothes police officers, as well as various “stability maintenance” personnel among the protesters, with the secretary of the local Party’s Political and Legislative Affairs Committee directing the march.
Liu also recognized in the photos—which she posted on the Internet—the thug who had kidnapped her during the period of the “Two Congresses” in March this year and put her in a black jail after putting a black hood over her. Similarly, Wei recognized the person who put him in a black jail during the same period, beat him, and broke three of his ribs.
Lawyers Xiao Guozhen (肖国珍) in Beijing and Sui Muqing (隋牧青) in Guangzhou are preparing to represent Liu Ping in filing a complaint against the Xinyu government and public security bureau.