Wuhan woman sues government for hazardous side-effects of lockdown

Reporter : Chang Chun /  Editor : Shang Yan / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/10/23/a102970358.html /  Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

Images : Stringent lockdown in Wuhan has triggered side-effects such as depression, anxiety, deaths at home, spikes in food prices, rotten food sales, violation of human rights such as freedom of speech and expression. There are Wuhan people that have resorted to legal suits for the lockdown. An example is reported below.

In the morning of 22 October 2020, Wuhan citizen Yao Qing sent two administrative complaints to the Wuhan Intermediate Court. She sued the Wuhan Municipal Government of the Communist Party of China for violating the law in the No. 1 and No. 12 notices issued during the epidemic.

Yao Qing, a citizen of Wuhan, believed that the two notices made by the Wuhan government during the covid epidemic were illegal and mailed a complaint to the Wuhan Intermediate Court on 22 October.

The Wuhan Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (Covid) Epidemic Prevention and Control Headquarters issued Announcement No. 1 on January 23 this year, requesting that "citizens should not leave Wuhan without special reasons, and the airport and railway station should be temporarily closed." Announcement No. 12 issued on February 10 states "Decision to implement closed management in all residential communities within the city from now on".

According to Article 8 Item 5 of China's "Legislative Law", compulsory measures that restrict personal freedom can only be restricted in the form of enacting laws. However, it is illegal for local governments to establish such measures in the form of administrative normative documents. The isolation measures stipulated in Article 24 of the "Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases" also only target patients and are "medical isolation". However, during the Wuhan epidemic, the measures taken by the authorities included the isolation of "contacts" and the "life quarantine" of the affected residential areas. The authorities' unusually strict closure methods even included nailing doors from house to house and welding the entrances and exits of entire residential buildings. etc. Residents are strictly prohibited from going out.

Yao Qing, a citizen of Wuhan, revealed "I sue the Wuhan Municipal Government. The reason for the prosecution is because the first one was to close us at home, but the logistics could not keep up. At that time, the government directly closed the supermarket and asked the neighborhood committee to go to the supermarket to represent it and buy on their behalf. People from the neighborhood committee directly said that we don’t have enough manpower to buy on our behalf. We only helped to buy vegetables twice in more than two months. This led us to only buy some high-priced vegetables during the entire epidemic, and the prices were at least those during the previous Chinese New Year by four times. We have almost never received such cheap food from the government, including the gift of love dishes."

Dangerous side-effects of lockdown

Yao Qing said that she wanted to go to the doctor because she was ill at the time, but the neighborhood committee did not help. They insulted her. When Yao Qing defended her house in October last year, her left arm was torn by community members. She was unable to travel because of the injury and lost a high-paying job. Later, she suffered from depression and anxiety.

Yao Qing: "Then especially when I was sick during the epidemic, I wanted to go to a doctor and wanted the neighborhood committee to buy medicine on my behalf. Because we couldn't go out at all. The neighborhood committee ignored me and forced me as a patient to become a volunteer. He directly said that we were messing up and making trouble unreasonably. Moreover, my hand was torn by people from the neighborhood committee, and during the entire epidemic process, because the government closed down and the medical treatment was also affected, my hand could not go at all. Physical therapy has caused this irreversible injury. Now I can’t lift heavy objects with my hands.”

Yao Qing revealed that many people died because of the strict closure measures imposed by the authorities.

Yao Qing said, "During the entire epidemic, you (Wuhan government) closed the city, but your logistics did not have any guarantee and follow-up, which led to many deaths. We still don't know how many such deaths are. I have a former colleague. She had uremia. As a result, all the hospitals did not accept treatment. She said that uremia patients did not receive treatment. As a result, she died five days after returning home."

It was also reported on the Internet that during the epidemic, due to severe blockades, it was exposed in Xiaogan City, Hubei that a child was starved to death. A few days later, the body was stinking and was discovered by outsiders. At that time, there were countless patients and their families with underlying diseases on the Weibo help platform.

Humane China Master Zhou Fengsuo commented, "The so-called isolation of the CCP in Wuhan is completely a crazy way without any restrictions. It isolates individuals from the outside world and society. Then it covers up the number of deaths from disease, controls news, and violates private property. In fact, we don’t know how many people have died. There must be a lot of human rights violations. Anyone who wants to investigate the truth is silenced."

Yao Qing said that she knows that it is difficult to defend rights, but she hopes that everyone will have the space to express their thoughts and opinions freely. Because this outbreak was out of control because the authorities admonished Dr. Li Wenliang and other whistleblowers. She also hopes that if she is "forced to disappear" because of the accusation against the authorities, the outside world will give timely attention.