In late 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a “war on corruption,” promising to purge the government and Chinese Communist Party of the endemic problem by netting both “tigers and flies,” and by “reining in power in a cage” of laws and regulations. Since that time, the campaign reportedly has punished at least 140 “tigers” – a term which refers to senior government and Party leaders – and thousands of “flies,” who are lower-level officials. Many more are embroiled in corruption investigations. An increasingly powerful, secretive Chinese Communist Party (CCP or “the Party”) body – the Central Commission on Discipline Inspection (CCDI) – has been a central player in the campaign, particularly through its abusive shuanggui (双规) disciplinary system.

The shuanggui system, which functions beyond the reach of China’s criminal justice system, gives the CCDI the authority to summon any of the Communist Party’s 88 million members to account for allegedly ill-gotten gains at a “designated location at a designated time.” Those summoned are deprived of liberty for days, weeks, or months, during which time they are repeatedly interrogated and often tortured. Typically, shuanggui detention ends when the official confesses to corruption or other alleged disciplinary violations; some are then transferred to the regular criminal justice system for prosecution.

The shuanggui system not only facilitates serious human rights abuses, it depends on them. The threat of being subjected to shuanggui strikes fear in Party members regardless of their position. A wide range of officials across industries and provinces – from normally untouchable former Politburo-level officials down to minor local authorities, from national sports team coaches to famous media figures – have been subjected to the system.

Shuanggui detainees face interrogation about corruption or other violations of Party rules. The system relies on indefinite and at times prolonged solitary confinement; individuals taken into custody typically have no contact with the outside world, including family members and lawyers, and are watched around the clock by teams of officials who function as guards. Detainees have none of the procedural rights protected under international human rights law, or even those that criminal suspects are entitled to under Chinese law, such as access to lawyers or appearance before a judge.

In many cases shuanggui detention begins with an enforced disappearance, with detainees’ families having no idea where their loved one is or why he or she is being held. Shuanggui detainees (also referred to as “CDI detainees”) are not held in police stations or other official detention facilities, but often in hostels and training facilities for Party cadres.

Report by the Human Rights Watch