(Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, January 4, 2017) – The lengthy prison sentence recently given to activist Wu Gan (吴淦) is a blatant violation of his universal right to free expression and peaceful assembly. CHRD calls on the Chinese government to immediately and unconditionally release Wu. The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court handed down an eight-year prison sentence for “subversion of state power” on December 26 following an August trial. Wu Gan’s case has been rife with abuses of his due process rights, including his right to legal counsel and the right to a fair and open trial. Wu has also reportedly been subjected to torture in failed efforts by authorities to extract a confession.
Wu Gan, whose advocacy had combined spirited online speech, satire and humor, and street performance, has vowed to appeal his conviction and punishment. An official government summary of the verdict stated that Wu had “used ‘rights defense’ and ‘performance art’ as a “ploy” to “seriously harm national security and social stability,” and that he had “used the internet to disseminate voluminous statements attacking state power and the constitutionally established state order.”
Wu’s sentence is the longest to date issued to anyone tied to the 709 Crackdown targeting China’s human rights lawyers. Lawyer Zhou Shifeng (周世锋) is serving a seven-year sentence and activist Hu Shigen (胡石根) a 7.5-year punishment, after being convicted in August 2016. Shortly before Wu was detained in May 2015, he had started working with Beijing Fengrui Law Firm, the main target of the crackdown, and where Zhou had served as director. Continue reading →