Person profile: Yu Fenglian (余凤连) — Political Prisoner Profile
This page collects the published reporting on the case of Yu Fenglian (余凤连), a petitioner from Gongxian County, Yibin, Sichuan, repeatedly detained over a family forest-land dispute, with source attributions and the limits of what is known.
Case summary
Yu Fenglian (余凤连), a petitioner from Gongxian County, Yibin, Sichuan, has spent more than a decade seeking redress in a family forest-land dispute dating to the 1952 land reform. After administrative and legal channels closed, she petitioned in Beijing and was repeatedly detained. The best-documented episode: her violent interception at the Ministry of Public Security petition office on September 28, 2020, followed by criminal detention for suspected “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” She was later released on bail with no recorded sentence, but remained under surveillance and restriction through 2026, with reports of a cancer diagnosis and obstructed medical care.
Source chronology
September 30, 2020 — 维权网. “四川珙县访民余凤连在公安部遭暴力截访后已被当地公安刑拘”: reports the September 28, 2020 interception at the Ministry of Public Security reception office (plainclothes officers, handcuffs, “wanted person” pretext), the September 30 criminal-detention notice for suspected 寻衅滋事罪, detention at Yibin County Detention Center; background on the 1952-allocation forest dispute, the 2009 county decision, failed reconsideration and lawsuit; notes 10+ prior administrative/criminal detentions. URL: wqw2010.blogspot.com — directly read and verified.
CHRD Prisoners of Conscience database — record “余凤连 / YU FENG LIAN”. Consolidates the case history: female, Gongxian/Yibin/Sichuan petitioner; 1952 land-reform forest inheritance dispute; 2020-09-28 Beijing interception; 2020-09-30 criminal detention (寻衅滋事罪), Yibin County Detention Center; release on bail, surveillance lifted, no sentence found; October 2024 Beijing trip with brother Yu Haitang, interception at Beijing West Station, return to Gongxian public security; 2025–2026 confinement to Gongxian, tracking, short detentions, reported cancer and obstructed care. Queried and captured directly. Additional coverage cited by the record (看中国, 北京之春, 自由亚洲电台, 对华援助协会, 大纪元) could not be opened directly in the research pass — flagged for click-verification; substance via the CHRD record.
August 2026 — 维权网 Issue-131 mainland political-prisoner roster. Lists 余凤连 in the 刑拘未判 / “Detained without trial, 259 people” group (Sichuan sub-band). Verified via local mirror.
Evidentiary notes
- The 2020 detention is corroborated by multiple independent Chinese-language outlets; the 维权网 report was read in full.
- Post-2020 developments (release, 2024 interception, 2025–2026 restrictions, cancer reports) rest on the CHRD record’s synthesis of coverage that could not be opened directly in the research pass; the downstream publisher should click-verify those article URLs before treating each detail as established.
- Her current custodial status is genuinely uncertain: the 2026 roster’s “detained without trial” placement and the CHRD record’s account of release-plus-surveillance do not fully agree. The archive records both, without resolving the conflict.
- The cancer diagnosis is reported, not verified, and must not be stated as fact.
Person profile: Yu Fenglian (余凤连) — Political Prisoner Profile