Writers at Risk Database
PEN America champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. The bedrock work of the global PEN network is advocacy and assistance on behalf of individuals persecuted for their use of the written word or other forms of expression. PEN America’s Writers at Risk Database is a searchable catalog of the writers, journalists, academics, public intellectuals and others under threat around the world. The database includes historical cases PEN America has worked on from 1987 onwards; non-active cases are color-coded black. PEN America is grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for support that enabled the establishment of the Writers at Risk Database and to PEN International for their collaboration in assembling this database.
Filters
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Status
DetainedYu Wensheng
Activist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificYu is an activist known for his critical writings on political issues. He was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 4 years after writing an open letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party proposing constitutional amendments. In April 2023, he was arrested again and detained for “picking quarrels…
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ImprisonedYu Yunfeng
Activist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificYu Yunfeng, also known as Dong Hu Zhibi, is a pro-democracy activist who was detained multiple times for his anti-Chinese Communist Party content over the years. He was sentenced to 2 years in reeducation by the Harbin authorities for his speech in 2011, and detained again in 2017 for defamation.…
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ImprisonedYuan Shang Bai Yun Jian
Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificYuan Shang Bai Yun Jian, a Chinese author of homoerotic fiction, was arrested on June 23, 2024 as part of a nationwide crackdown on “pornographic” content, particularly targeting writers on the Taiwan-based platform Haitang Literature City. After five months in detention, she appeared in court in a severely weakened state…
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Recorded HarassmentYuli Riswati
Activist, Journalist, Literary writerChina/Hong KongAsia-PacificRiswati, an Indonesian citizen, covers Hong Kong pro-democracy protests with a focus on migrant workers and the unique struggles they face. She was awarded the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants in 2018 for her writing. She was deported to Indonesia in December 2019 after a 29-day detention in a Hong…
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Displaced/In ExileYulia Tsvetkova
Creative artist, Online CommentatorRussiaEurope and Central AsiaCartoonist Tsvetkova was charged with pornography for disseminating artwork promoting body positivity and LGBTQ inclusivity. She was placed under house arrest from November 2019 to March 2020, and she faced up to 6 years in prison. In June 2022, authorities put her on the “foreign agent” list. She now lives…
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ImprisonedYunkai Shangguan
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificYunkai is a journalist and blogger who wrote on allegations of government corruption and forgery. He was arrested in April 2023 for an article he published, and was charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” In January 2024, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison on multiple charges, including…
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ImprisonedYury Alexeyevich Dmitriev
Activist, ScholarRussiaEurope and Central AsiaA historian who researched Stalinist atrocities and head of the Karelia branch of the human rights organization Memorial, Dmitriev was imprisoned on baseless charges of sexual assault. On September 29, 2020, prosecutors appealed his prior acquittals in a backdoor trial, resulting in a 13 year sentence. In December 2021, this…
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Displaced/In ExileYury Stylski
Creative artist, Singer/SongwriterBelarusEurope and Central AsiaIn August 2020, Stylski, lyricist and leader of a black-listed band ‘Daj Dorogu,’ attended a peaceful rally in Brest with a loud-speaker and Belarusian flag. He was later detained and released three times during the month in relation to his participation in protests. After Stylski fled Belarus in August 2021,…
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Continued HarassmentYutong Su
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificA blogger and former journalist, Yutong is also a pro-democracy online activist who has faced multiple instances of harassment in China dating back to 2010. After she had circulated a banned book Li Peng’s Diary, police searched her home and confiscated her documents before arresting her. Upon her release she…
Writers at Risk Database Key:
STATUS box that is red: Active case
STATUS box that is black: Inactive case
Funder
PEN America is deeply grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for its generous support of the Freedom to Write Index and Writers at Risk Database.
Partner
PEN America thanks the PEN International Secretariat and the Writers in Prison Committee for their extensive contributions to and collaboration on compiling the cases included in this database.