Sister of Wendy Zhao
Mr. Xie Jianxin and his wife, Ms. Zhao Renyuan, were at home in the middle of the night on February 5, 2020, when the police knocked on their door and claimed they had to “take their temperatures.”
Ms. Zhao sent a text to her sister who lives in the U.S., Wendy Zhao, about the situation and said her husband didn’t open the door. When her sister saw the text the next morning and called the couple, they had already been arrested.
The couple’s family called officer Yan at the Qixing Police Station on February 8 to inquire about their case. Yan said the two were arrested for handing out Falun Gong materials, but he refused to reveal any other information.
When the couple’s family called Qixing Police Station a week later to ask about them, the officer who answered also refused to provide further information and told them to wait for notifications.
Only when the family complained about not knowing where to send clothes to their loved ones did the officer reveal that the couple was being held at Jinjiling Road No.2 Detention Center.
On December 1, 2020, Mr. Xie and Ms. Zhao were both sentenced to three years in prison and were fined 10,000 yuan for “using a heterodox religion to undermine the implementation of law”. Ms. Zhao appealed her case with the Guilin City Intermediate Court on December 7, 2020.
On December 9, 2020, Ms. Zhao was transferred to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Women’s Prison in Nannin and was jailed at the fifth prison area. On April 8, 2021, Mr. Xie was sent to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou Prison and was jailed in the tenth prison area.
It was reported that Mr. Xie is having gastrointestinal bleeding in the detention center.
Urgent request for the immediate release of Jianxin Xie and Renyuan Zhao can be sent to the following officials and addresses:
The fifth prison area of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Women’s Prison
No. 10 Panlong Road, Qingxiu District, Nanning City, Guangxi 530025
Phone number: +86-771-8056618, +86-771-5610555
Lai Weirong (director of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Women’s Prison) and Xie Yun (deputy director of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Women’s Prison)
Phone number: +86-0771-5600663
The tenth prison area of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Liuzhou Prison
Phone number: +86-772-2778164
