The United States condemns the reported sentencing in the People’s Republic of China of human rights activist and lawyer Guo Feixion, also known as Yang Maodong.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Guo to eight years in prison reportedly on charges of “inciting subversion of state power.” In fact, as U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller wrote in a statement, “The PRC sentenced Mr. Guo to eight years of imprisonment for his peaceful work on behalf of the people of the PRC.”
Guo has been repeatedly jailed for his human rights work, including six years in prison between 2013 and 2019 for his anti-corruption advocacy and support for free expression. In 2021, he was arrested again as he was boarding a plane to visit his wife Zhang Qing, who was undergoing treatment for cancer in the United States. Guo never saw her again; she died in January 2022. The PRC rejected calls by the U.S. State Department to allow Guo to travel to the United States to care for his two young children.
Guo’s most recent 8-year prison sentence reportedly stems from his participation in an online portal called the “World Forum for Constitutional Democracy,” where he published and reposted pro-democracy articles which the Guangzhou court deemed inflammatory and subversive.
State Department Spokesperson Miller noted that U.S. diplomats were blocked from attending Guo’s trial in Guangzhou on May 11.
“We urge the PRC to live up to its international commitments, give its citizens due process, respect their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, and end the use of arbitrary detentions and exit bans,” declared State Department Spokesperson Miller. “We continue our calls on the PRC,” he added, “to immediately release Guo and allow him to travel to the United States to reunite with his family.”
