In 2009, democracy activist Xie Changfa (谢长发) was convicted of “subversion of state power” and sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment and five years of deprivation of political rights, in connection with his activities in the China Democracy Party (CDP).

Xie told his brother Xie Changzhen who visited him in the Chishan Prison in Hunan on February 22, 2016 that because of the reading books, he had been beaten in the head, on January 29, by the vice-director of the prison’s Eighth Supervision Section, Liu Hong (刘宏), in front of some 200 inmates. He subsequently went on hunger strike for more than 50 hours in protest.  Xie Changzhen recounts that because his brother spoke about his abuse, their phone line was cut off in less than five minutes.

Account in Chinese original.