Lü Gengsong, Freelance
Medium:Internet
Charge:Anti-State
Imprisoned:July 7, 2014

Lü, a freelance writer, was detained on July 7, 2014 and his home was raided by Hangzhou city security officers. He was charged with subversion of state power on August 13, according to Human Rights in China. Two fellow activists told Radio Free Asia that his detention was likely linked to writing he had published online in previous days about corruption and petitioners.

Lü lost his teaching position at Zhejiang Higher Professional School of Public Security in 1993 for his support of the pro-democracy movement. In 2000 his book, Corruption in the Communist Party of China, was published by Hong Kong Culture and Arts Studio. In March 2007 his article "China's Biggest Spy Organization: The Political and Legal Affairs Commission" appeared in Beijing Spring, an overseas democracy magazine. On February 5, 2008, the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to four years in prison and one year's deprivation of political rights on inciting subversion of state power. A lower court had found him guilty of publishing "subversive essays" on foreign websites, according to the Congressional Executive Commission on China.

After his release on August 23, 2011, Lü wrote a series of articles on corruption, organized crime, and other topics. Lü has also reported on the sentencing of rights activists, and frequently voiced support for the protection of basic rights. In October 2013, Lü and others wrote an open letter and petition against China's presence on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

No trial date had been set as of late 2014. Lü was being held at Xinjiang No. 3 Prison, according to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a U.S.-based organization with a legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the rule of law in China.

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