China Sentences Dissident Guo Quan to 10 years in Prison

Pro-democracy dissident and Internet writer Gou Quan (below), whose defiance of the Communist Party has cost him years of harassment and censorship, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and three years of deprivation of political rights for "subversion of state power."

(Epoch Times Photo)

Guo Quan, a former Nanjing Normal University associate professor, had become a thorn in the side of the Beijing bosses by sending letters to top officials advocating for a multi-party democracy system and by forming the independent Chinese New Democracy Party, which Guo Quan claims has a membership of 30 million.

In May of 2008, he was arrested because of his critical writings about the government's response to the May 12, 2008, earthquake in Sichuan Province. The PEN American Center called the arrest back then part of "a pattern of intensified harassment of dissident writers in China."

In November, he was arrested again on the above-mentioned charges of "subversion of state power," a case that was finally filed on June 20 and whose trial took place on Aug. 7.

According to Human Rights in China (HRIC), "In issuing a decision more than four months after it accepted the case, the court greatly exceeded the one-and-a-half month legal time limit for a court to conclude a case (Article 168, Criminal Procedure Law)."

HRIC also quotes Guo Quan's attorney as saying the whole procedure was illegal. "This sentence is indefensible from a legal perspective, because using peaceful and rational means to petition cannot be considered ‘subversion of state power.’ Guo Quan’s actions were in complete compliance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. ‘Subversion of state power’ can only be achieved by armed insurrection."

Maybe the judges read the old adage, "The pen is mightier than the sword." You never know.