China’s mental treatment of “troublemaker”

When Zhang Junjie was 17 years old, he decided to protest the regulations formulated by the Chinese government outside the university. Within a few days, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital and was treated with schizophrenia.

Junjie is one of the dozens of people who are confirmed by BBC for protests or complaints.

Many of us interviewed were treated with anti -psychiatric drugs without consent, and in some cases, they also received electric shock therapy (ECT).

Although it has been reported for decades that China has used hospitalization as a way to detention to hold different political opinions citizens without involving the court, but a well -known Chinese lawyer told Broadcasting Corporation that the problem that this legislation tried to solve recently has come back again again. Essence

Junjie said that he was bound and beaten by hospital staff before being forced to take medicine.

His suffering began in 2022, when he protested China’s severe blockade policy. He said that just five minutes later, his professor discovered him and contacted his father, and the latter brought him back to his home. He said that his father reported the police. The next day, on the day of his 18th birthday, two men drove him to the place where they claimed to be the new crown virus test center, but it was actually a hospital.

“The doctor told me that I had a very serious mental illness … and then they tied me to bed. Nurses and doctors told me repeatedly that because I think of the party and the government, then I must be mental illness. It’s terrible.”, He told the Broadcasting Corporation International Channel. He stayed there for 12 days.

Junjie believes that his father felt forced to give him to the authorities because he worked in the local government.

After more than a month of discharge, Junjie was arrested again. Regardless of the New Year’s Fireworks and Firecrackers (a measure aimed at fighting air pollution), he made a video of his own fireworks. Someone uploaded it to the Internet, and the police managed to associate it with Junjie.

He was accused of “provoking trouble” -the charges were often used to suppress criticism of the Chinese government. Junjie said that he was forcibly hospitalized for more than two months.

After being discharged, Junjie was prescribed anti -psychiatric drugs. We saw the prescription -aslidazole, which was used to treat schizophrenia and bilateral emotional disorders.

“Taking medicine made me feel that my brain was bad,” he said, and added that the police would go to his house to check whether he took the medicine.

Junjie decided to leave China because he was worried about the third hospital. He told his parents that he would return to the university to clean up the room, but in fact, he fled to New Zealand.

He did not say goodbye to his family or friends.

Junjie is one of the 59 people confirmed by the BBC -to talk to them or their relatives, or check the court documents -after protest or challenge the authorities, he was admitted to the hospital for mental health.

The Chinese government has acknowledged this issue -the “Mental Health Law” promulgated by China in 2013 aims to stop this abuse, stipulating that the treatment of people who have no mental illness are illegal behavior. It also clearly stipulates that unless the patient constitutes a danger to himself or others, it must be voluntary in psychiatry.

In fact, a well -known Chinese lawyer told the Broadcasting Corporation International Channel that the number of people who have been forced to be detained at mental health hospitals have recently surged. Huang Xuetao, who participated in the drafting of the law, blamed it on the weakening and lack of checks and balances of civic society.

“I have encountered many such cases. The police wanted power, but evaded responsibility,” he said. “Anyone who knows the shortcomings of this system can abuse it.”

A person named Jie Lijian told us that in 2018, he was treated with mental illness without his consent.

Li Jian said he was arrested for participating in protests that required the factory to raise wages. He said the police interrogated him for three days and then sent him to a mental hospital.

Like Junjie, Li Jian said that he also took anti -psychiatric drugs, which harmed his critical thinking.

After a week of hospitalization, he said he refused to receive any drug treatment. After arguing with the staff and was told him to make trouble, Li Jian was sent to accept the ECT -a therapy for the patient’s brain to pass the current.

“It hurts from head to toe, and the whole body feels not myself. It really hurts. Speak, shock, electric shock, electric shock, shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock Let me, shock, shock, shock, shock, electric shock, shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, shock, shock, shock, shock, shock, shock, shock. Shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock or electric shock, electric shock or electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock, electric shock or electric shock. The electric shock is still fast, “he said.

He said he was discharged from the hospital 52 days later. He now has a part -time job in Los Angeles and is seeking asylum in the United States.

In 2019, Li Jian said that in the second year of his hospitalization, the Chinese Physician Association updated the ECT guide, stipulating that it can only be treated under general anesthesia without consent.

We want to learn more about doctors participating in such cases.

Without permission, making remarks to foreign media such as BBC may cause them trouble, so our only choice is undercover.

We made an appointment with the doctor of the four hospitals. According to our evidence, these hospitals involved forced hospitalization.

We made a story, telling a story of a relative who was hospitalized for publishing anti -government comments on the Internet, and asked if five doctors had encountered cases where the police had encountered the police sent the patient to the hospital.

The four confirmed that they have.

“There is a way to admit a psychiatric department called ‘troublemaker’,” a doctor told us.

Another doctor of Junjie’s detained hospital seemed to confirm his claim that the police continued to monitor it after the patient was discharged.

“The police will check you at home to make sure you take medicine. If you don’t take medicine, you may violate the law again,” they said.

We contacted relevant hospitals for comments, but did not get a response.

We have obtained the medical records of Democratic activist Song Zaimin. He was hospitalized for the fifth time last year, which clearly showed how closely related the political views seemed to be diagnosed with psychiatric diagnosis.

“Today he … talk a lot, unparalleled, and criticize the Communist Party. Therefore, he was sent to our hospital for hospitalization by police, doctors, and local neighborhood committees. This is not voluntary hospitalization,” said it.

We invite the World Psychiatric Association, Professor Thomas G Schulze, to review these notes. He replied:

“As far as the situation described here, no one should be admitted to the hospital and undergoing treatment if it violates his wishes. This is full of political abuse.”

According to a group of Chinese citizen reporters who recorded the abuse of the “Mental Health Law”, more than 200 people reported that they were discharged by the authorities by the authorities from 2013 to 2017.

Their reports ended in 2017 because the founder of the organization was arrested and then imprisoned.

For victims seeking justice, the legal system seems to be unfavorable to them.

A man we called Mr. Li was hospitalized in 2023 due to protest of the local police. He tried to take legal action against the authorities on the authority in prison.

Different from Junjie, the doctor told Mr. Li that he was not sick, but then the police arranged an external psychiatrist to evaluate him, diagnosing his double -phase emotional disorders, and he was detained for 45 days.

After being released, he decided to question the diagnosis.

“If I do not sue the police, as if I admit that I have mental illness. This will have a significant impact on my future and my freedom, because the police can hold me at any time,” he said.

In China, a record of anyone who is diagnosed with serious mental illness can be shared with police and even local residents’ committees.

But Mr. Li was unsuccessful -the court rejected his appeal.

“We hear our leaders talking about the rule of law,” he told us. “We have never dreamed that one day we will be held in a mental hospital.”

The Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) found that 112 people listed on the official website of the Chinese courts tried to take legal operations on police, local governments or hospitals on such treatment from 2013 to 2024.

About 40% of these plaintiffs have participated in complaints on authorities. Only two people won the lawsuit.

The website seemed to be reviewed -the other five cases we investigated were lost from the database.

Nikola McBene, “Rights Practice” in London Human Rights, said that the problem was that the police enjoyed “considerable free tailoring rights” when dealing with “troublemakers”.

“Bypassing the program to send someone to a mental hospital is too easy and useful for local authorities.”

Now people pay attention to the fate of video blogger Li Yixue, and he accuses a police officer sexually assaulted. It is said that after talking about this experience in social media, Yixue has recently been hospitalized for the second time. According to reports, she is currently monitored in a hotel.

We have submitted the results of the investigation to the British Embassy. Last year, the Communist Party of China “reiterated” must “improve the legal mechanism” and “clearly prohibit illegal detention and other methods of illegal deprivation or restricting the personal freedom of citizens.”

Georgina Lam and Betty Knight supplementary reports