Shaanxi dissident likely received second sentence reduction
Dui Hua uncovered information that the founder of the Xinya Party (兴亚党) Guo Ran (果然) might have received his second sentence reduction. In late August 2024, Weinan Prison in Shaanxi Province submitted a sentence reduction request for five months on behalf of Guo. This request came nearly six years after his first five-month sentence reduction was approved in October 2019.
The decision by the Weinan Intermediate People’s Court has not been made public. Similar requests were rejected in September 2018 and January 2019. The latest request, if approved, will shorten his prison sentence to expire in February 2025.
Dui Hua first covered his case in its Human Rights Journal in June 2024. Guo was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment for subversion in a closed-door trial alongside Kou Ji (寇稽). They were accused of publishing posts online and recruiting people online to join their underground party. Members were to become citizens of the “Chinese Federal Republic.” Guo allegedly called on online recruits to carry out violent activities.
Activist of the online anti-censorship movement sentenced in Hunan
Yang Zewei (杨泽伟), better known by his screen name Qiao Xinxin (乔鑫鑫), has been sentenced to five years in Hengyang for inciting subversion.
Yang is an independent journalist who fled China in 2013 and later resided in Laos. Alongside a group of activists living in Southeast Asia, the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, he launched a movement known as “Ban the Great Firewall” (Chinese: 拆墙运动). The activists shared online tutorials to Chinese netizens on how to circumvent the firewall and censorship.
Yang went missing shortly before June 4, 2023. It was later confirmed that he had been taken by Chinese police from Vientiane. His detention and repatriation sparked international outcry over China’s cross-border law enforcement operations.
Yang was indicted by the Hengyang People’s Procuratorate in July 2023 for inciting subversion of state power, an Endangering State Security crime.
Yang’s sentence is expected to expire in June 2028.
Lawyer Lu Siwei formally arrested in Chengdu
On October 10, human rights lawyer Lu Siwei (卢思位) was formally arrested by Chengdu police for illegal border crossing. His arrest came two weeks before the expiration of his release on bail pending further investigation (取保候审), which started on October 28, 2023.
Lu was detained in Laos in July 2023 while en route to Thailand. He was planning to fly from Thailand to reunite with his family in the US. Lu was later repatriated to China despite holding a valid Laotian visa.
Lu provided legal defense in many high profile, politically sensitive cases, including the cases against Yu Wensheng (余文生) and Qin Yongpei (覃永沛), lawyers who were charged with inciting subversion. In 2020, Lu took on the case of the “Hong Kong 12”—twelve Hong Kong activists caught fleeing on a boat to Taiwan by China’s coastguards. He was later forced to withdraw after authorities appointed legal aid counsels. The Sichuan Justice Bureau revoked Lu’s license in January 2021 for “posting inappropriate remarks online.”
Falun Gong practitioner in Guangdong released after receiving second sentence reduction
Information obtained by Dui Hua confirmed Falun Gong practitioner Shi Xuemei (石雪梅) was released from the Guangdong Women’s Prison at the end of June 2024 after receiving her second sentence reduction of seven months.
Shi was one of the three Falun Gong practitioners from Huizhou who were detained in 2016 for using a cult to undermine implementation of the law. They were accused of possessing propaganda publications and spreading cult messages. The trio was convicted by the Huidong County People’s Court in March 2018. The judgment was upheld by the Huizhou Intermediate People’s Court in September of the same year. Shi and Zhou Yuqing (周育琴) received heavy prison sentences of nine years and ten years, respectively. Liu Qingqiang (刘庆强), a man in his mid-30s at the time of the arrest, was sentenced to four years and released in 2020.
Shi received her first sentence reduction of eight months in 2021 for good behavior.
Zhou received one reduction of seven months in September 2022. She is incarcerated in the Guangdong Women’s Prison and is due for release in February 2026.
Ruan Xiaohuan appeal trial postponed again
The appellate trial for Ruan Xiaohuan (阮晓寰) has been postponed again, according to information posted online by his wife. Ruan is the author behind the well-known blog “Program Think 编程随想” covering topics on internet security, tools to bypass China’s firewall, and his political commentaries.
Ruan was convicted of inciting subversion in February 2023 by the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People’s Court. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment with two years deprivation of political rights.
Ruan filed an appeal to the Shanghai High People’s Court in the same month. However, the previous presiding judge insisted that Ruan be represented by a lawyer from the court’s legal aid program, despite repeated objections by Ruan and his family. Ruan finally obtained his own legal counsel at the end of August following the appointment of a new presiding judge and started to receive visits from the lawyers. He is now represented by the renowned rights lawyer Mo Shaoping and lawyer Zhang Dongshuo.
Ruan’s appellate trial has been postponed several times and is now scheduled to take place at the end of December 2024. His lawyers have filed a motion for an open trial. However, cases deemed “sensitive” are usually held in closed trials.