Bank Account Frozen, Complaints Going Nowhere, Difficulty in Getting By: An Account by Cheng Yuan's wife, Shi Minglei, Who is “Under Suspicion of Subversion of State Power”

Shi Minglei, wife of the arrested public interest activist Cheng Yuan, has been put under residential surveillance for 50 days already, on suspicion of “subversion of state power.” Without presenting any evidence, to date, to support their criminal allegations against Shi, the authorities have frozen her bank account and confiscated items including her various identification documents, mobile phone, and computer.

As a result, she cannot live normally, make her mortgage payments, or pay tuition for her child. On August 3, Shi sent three complaint letters to the Changsha Municipal Procuratorate, the Hunan Provincial Procuratorate, and the Hunan Provincial State Security Department. Now, 37 days later, she has not received any written replies.

On September 10, Shi called Procurator Deng of the Changsha Municipal Procuratorate of Changsha City to inquire. Prosecutor Deng claimed that Shi Minglei's letter had only been forwarded to him on August 22, and the time period for replies is three months from the date of the receipt of the letter and that he would reply within that period. Shi told the procurator that State Security of Changsha had promised to lift the coercive measures against her as soon as possible, unfreeze her bank card, and return the confiscated items—but has delayed such actions repeatedly, in obvious abuse of its investigative power. The procurator said that the case is still under investigation, and that the procuratorial organ can only supervise and has no authority to handle the investigation. On the same day, the Hunan Provincial Procuratorate responded by phone saying that because the case was still under investigation, the Procuratorate had no way to handle it and suggested Shi file a complaint with the disciplinary inspection department of the public security organ. It refused to provide Shi with a written response.

In her tweets, Shi said that the complaint that she had sent to the Hunan Provincial State Security Department has been forwarded to the Letter and Visit Department, and all three complaints have received “responses.” But she was still confused: "What have I done to incur suspicion of subversion of state power? How did I subvert it? How long will my livelihood problems have to drag on before being solved? "

Cheng Yuan is one of the founders of Changsha Funeng public interest organization. He was criminally detained On July 22, 2019 by the Changsha Municipal State Security Bureau on "suspicion of subversion of state power."

程渊妻子施明磊的推文

2019年9月10日

自我收到长沙国安给我的“涉嫌颠覆国家政权”的监视居住告知书已经50天了，也没有和我及我律师说出一点点罪行。但我银行账户冻结，极大影响我的正常生活。我就此事于8月3日寄出了三封控告信，分别寄往长沙市检察院、湖南省检察院、湖南省国安厅。至今已经37天了，我没有收到答复，心急如焚，今天我决定找寻我的三封控告信的下落。

上午10:10，我致电长沙市检察院侦查一处邓检察官询问我的控告信的下落。邓检察官接了电话，我说我是程渊妻子，想跟你了解我的控告信的处理情况：

“邓检，我8月3日寄了控告信到长沙市检察院，8月5日已签收，8月27日，我到长沙市检察院再次反映了控告书的诉求。现在距离签收已经35天，我想了解处理结果？”

邓检急促地说：“我已经拿到控告信，虽然你说是8月5号签收，8月22号才转到我这，从收到到回复是三个月期限。我会在期限内回复你的，也会给你一个书面答复，好吧？”

我怕他挂电话，慌忙说：“邓检，你等等，我今天打电话过来一是想询问我的控告信的处理结果，二呢是有一些实际的困难确实是希望你了解。我的银行账户被长沙国安冻结，每个月要还房贷养小孩，孩子下半年学费没有着落……”

话说了一半，邓检察官打断我。他说你应该知道你是在监视居住期间吧？我说我知道但我不认可，所以我才找你们（向检察院控告）。邓检说：“监视居住期间，所有通讯包括跟我通这个电话都需要审批，否则是违规；刚才你说你来长沙是吧？有没有报批？如果你没有报批，就是违规；包括跟外界联系会见任何人，应该报批，否则违规。”联想到林警官交待我如果我违规，可能会抓我，我倒吸一口冷气。

我在心里快速祷告了一下，克服内心恐惧，我哽咽了一下，说：“邓检，祸不及妻儿是不是文明社会，法制社会的基本准则，这是滥用侦查权，给我弄个监视居住本身就是违法。我也不认可给我的“涉嫌颠覆国家政权罪”的罪名。”

邓检说：“我看过案情，你跟这个案子多多少少还是有关联。现在还在侦查期间，你有罪与否暂不能认定，所以不能认定办案单位是违法。那不能认定的情况下，我们检察机关只能监督，没有权限处理。”

我说邓检我不认可这个（涉嫌颠覆国家政权）大罪名，如果你们坚持认为我与这个有关（涉嫌颠覆国家政权），那你们就把我一起逮捕。

邓检说：“不是所有情况下都是逮捕，监视居住也是一种强制措施。”

我很无奈地说：“邓检你看过案情，应该知道我与此案无关，现在扣了这么大一个帽子（涉嫌颠覆国家政权罪）给我，我不认可。” 怕他挂电话，我加快语速：“刚才我想讲一下我实际的困难没机会讲，还是想你们要了解我实际的困难。长沙国安冻结了我的存款，负债可是一秒都没冻结，我现在没有正式工作，只能零星做工，找工作你说即使我有经验，搞一个这个罪名给我，哪个企业敢聘请我，还有小孩要抚养。无论是从法律上，还是从情理上都说不过去。”

我再次加快语速：“你替我想想，我每个月房贷2万5，还有物业费、社保、保险、生活费、孩子学费、信用卡，各项费用都扣款失败，我原本有公积金卡可以还房贷，现在都只能现金，扣款全部失败，我有实实在在的困难。孩子已经开学了，还没钱交下学期学费。这个搞得我十分麻烦！” 我觉得我说话像机关枪一样快。

邓检说：“我会与办案单位沟通核实，如果真有生计问题，会去跟办案机关沟通督促他们解决。如果核实没有，那就要另说了。你要了解，任何人摊上刑事案件都会很麻烦，不只是你施明磊麻烦。”

我说我理解你们的工作，但摊上这个事情，明显是长沙国安滥用侦查权，否则长沙国安林警官也不会三番五次承诺我会尽快解除对我的强制措施，解冻银行卡，归还物品。一开始说一个月还我，第二次见面说37天，第三次说尽快申请，这就是在拖延。

邓检让我与办案单位直接沟通此事，我正准备再次重申：“依法查实无关联，应在三日内解除对我的银行账户的冻结，因为孩子要交下半年学费了。”

邓检说有急事不能再说，匆匆挂了我电话，末了，说后面会来深圳当面与我沟通，应该到11月会对我的控告书给我一个书面答复。

尽管，在这个9分钟的通话中，邓检非常耐心与我做了沟通，我仍然一头雾水，我做了什么事涉嫌颠覆国家政权？又是如何颠覆的？我的生计问题，要拖到何时解决？

我这边刚挂完电话，我哥哥打来电话，说收到湖南省检察院的电话回复，她们拒绝提供书面回复，口头上讲了一下：“因该案还在侦查期，湖南省检察院没有办法处理，建议去公安机关的纪检部门投诉。”

至此，包含那封寄给湖南省国安厅被转至信访部门的控告信，我的三封控告信全部得到了“答复”。