Ou Yangyun, a small-business owner from Changsha, China, travelled to Zhengzhou in February to demand compensation after his bank account containing tens of thousands of dollars was frozen.
He was expected to be home two days later to celebrate the Lunar New Year with his family, but he vanished.
Ou was among more than a dozen victims of a major banking scandal who had gathered outside a train station in Zhengzhou to protest.
The group was taken into custody by police and held for several days.
Most were released, but Ou and two others remained in detention.
The depositors’ ordeal began about two years ago when some 600,000 people lost their life savings in a $4.2 billion fraud involving four banks in Henan.
The scandal raised concerns among analysts about the stability of rural lenders in China.
The unusually harsh treatment of Ou and the two others may reflect the government’s sensitivity to rising dissent linked to financial hardship.
It is common for people to be detained at economic protests, but they are typically released within a few days.
Ou and the two others have been held for months.
Experts say that the Chinese government is eager to quell the protests to prevent widespread unrest as the economy falters.
There has been a 127% increase in economic protests in China in the past year, including demonstrations by labourers over unpaid wages, property buyers whose apartments were not built, and investors and retirees who were defrauded of their money.
Ou’s relatives attempted to determine his fate, but calls and letters to the Zhengzhou police yielded little information.
The family feared Ou was dead for weeks.
Although Ou was detained on February 9, his police arrest notice is dated March 19.
Ou and Shi are charged with picking quarrels and provoking trouble, a common accusation levied against protesters in China.
Shi’s family is worried about his health, as he has diabetes and suffers from depression after losing his money.
Hu, also a small-business owner, lost all of her family’s savings in the scandal.
The financial scandal involved a complex fraud perpetrated across several rural banks.
Xincaifu Group, a private firm with stakes in the lenders, colluded with bank staff to siphon off depositors’ funds.
Xincaifu was deregistered in 2022 and did not make any public statements about the scandal at the time.
After a public outcry by the depositors, local governments compensated many customers who had lost small deposits.
However, more than 1,000 people are still waiting to be repaid.
The families of Ou, Shi and Hu are waiting to learn whether the trio will be prosecuted, while other depositors continue the fight to recover their savings.
