Chinese authorities detain editor of human rights monitoring website on charges of 'subversion'

Liu Feiyue, founder of Minsheng Guancha, was taken away earlier this month by police in Suizhou

(Reuters)

The editor of a Chinese website monitoring human rights issues has been detained on suspicion of subverting state power, according to an announcement on the website.

Liu Feiyue, founder of the website Minsheng Guancha, was taken away earlier this month by police in the central Chinese city of Suizhou. The site says Liu's family has been told he is under investigation for subversion, a vaguely defined charge often leveled against human rights activists and dissidents.

Minsheng Guancha, known in English as Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch, was founded in 2006 and documents protests, land seizures, unannounced detentions and other alleged human rights violations that are typically ignored by China's state-run media.

Liu has published stories about China's detentions of dissenters and activists, one of a few people living in mainland China to do so. His website has alleged that China has committed hundreds of perceived troublemakers to mental hospitals under the guise of giving them psychiatric treatment. He has also documented local corruption cases and protests by veterans seeking benefits after their discharge from the military.

Liu has been detained multiple times for brief periods, often during high-profile events such as meetings of the National People's Congress or international summits.

But if he is convicted of subversion, Liu could face life in prison, the maximum penalty for anyone guilty of organizing a “scheme of subverting the state power or overthrowing the socialist system.”

Word of Liu's detention comes shortly after news that another activist has disappeared. The wife of legal activist Jiang Tianyong said Thursday that he had not been heard from since Monday. Jiang represented some of China's most politically sensitive figures in recent years, including the dissident lawyer Gao Zhisheng and blind activist Chen Guangcheng.

Patrick Poon, a researcher for Amnesty International, said the cases of Liu and Jiang were “worrying,” and a possible sign of “another wave of crackdown against human rights defenders.”

An official who answered the phone at the Suizhou public security bureau Friday said he had no knowledge of Liu's detention. Calls to Liu's mobile phone rang unanswered Friday.

AP