Citizen Activist Liu Yuandong Hasn’t Been Let outside since First Detained in March 2013

Liu Yuangdong was among the first activists of the Southern Street Movement to be detained. He was tried in January 2014 in the Tianhe District People's Court, Guangzhou, Guandong, and the court has not yet issued a ruling and he remains in detention. Liu Yuandong said to his lawyer, Liu Zhengqing, in a meeting on August 21, 2015:

I was detained on March 10, 2013. In the two and a half years since, I have never been allowed outside or seen the sun. I’ve been in a narrow space bursting with people—especially this year [2015], it has been packed with people. In the B213 cell where I’m held—a space smaller than 40 square meters—there are 35, sometimes 40 people. I hear that other cells are the same.

The legal system under this autocratic rule is the equivalent of extreme despotism: people who should not be detained are here. In here, your health will get worse by the day. No one gets better. China's drug problem is also proliferating. I guess that 70% of those in here are drug addicts. In these two years, frequently if I don’t have diarrhea then I have constipation; and my gastrointestinal problems are very bad. I eat poorly, and endlessly suffer from skin diseases. I have serious insomnia and often feel anxious and fearful. The food is so bad, even beggars would not want to eat it. Previously, they detained a homeless man, and even he would rather drift about outside than stay here. Often times, detainees become weak in all four limbs, and cannot even stand. Two people died last year. In more than two years, I haven’t received one single letter, or been able to send out those I wrote. Now, my memory, attention, and cognitive function are all greatly reduced, and my reaction has also slowed.