Troublemakers: Drugged, Framed and Detained

BBC Eye investigation into police abuse of psychiatric detention in China.

In 2012, China introduced a law to curb the widespread abuse of psychiatric hospitals by the authorities, but it hasn't worked.

This in-depth investigation reveals how the police found ways to circumvent the law, allowing them to punish protestors without going through the criminal justice system. With almost no checks and balances, the number of people being illegally sent to psychiatric hospitals is said to be surging.

Testimonies from three protestors, detained for months in secure psychiatric wards reveal how they were restrained, forcibly treated with psychoactive drugs and even subjected to electric shock therapy.

Their crime? "Picking quarrels and troublemaking" the catch all offence police use to sweep up anyone threatening disturb "social harmony".