Police detained Li in October 2017 in Shenyang, a city in northeastern China where she had gone to visit a client. They accused her of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a public order crime that has long been used to imprison rights defenders.
For the first month, Li was illegally denied access to legal representation hired by her family. A month later, she was finally allowed to meet with a lawyer.
In 2018, police added an extra charge of “fraud”, likely to ensure she would get a lengthier sentence since the initial crime of picking quarrels carries a maximum five-year sentence.
After repeatedly delaying her trial without providing justification, judges finally heard her case in 2021 in a secret hearing.
But it took another two years for her to be sentenced to the six and a half years in prison in October 2023. Because of the lengthy time she had already been in detention, by the end of March she had served her sentence and was released.
In July 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts had called Li’s detention arbitrary and raised concerns about her ailing health, reports of ill treatment and excessive delays to the trial and sentencing.