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Wednesday, December 27, 2017

 

Subversion is an honorable label under a dictatorship: Jailed Chinese blogger

By Tenzin Monlam

 

For those living under a dictatorship, being given the honorable label of one who ‘subverts state power’ is the highest form of affirmation for a citizen, said Chinese human rights activist, Wu Gan following his sentencing to eight years for ‘subversion’ yesterday. 

“It’s proof that the citizen wasn’t an accomplice or a slave, and that at the very least he went out and defended, and fought for, human rights,” the prominent activist, who is also a blogger known as ‘Super Vulgar Butcher’ said in his statement released by his lawyer after the sentencing. 

The activist expressed that he is ‘optimistic’ despite the harsh sentence since he believe that more and more people are waking up because of the Internet. He feels that the masses are growing larger by the day and authorities using jail to ‘frighten’ citizen pursing freedom and democracy’ would not meet a good end. 

“Their tyranny is based on a lack of self-confidence — a sign of a guilty conscience and fear. It’s a dead end. When the masses wake up, will the dictatorship’s end be far off?” questioned the Chinese activist. 

As for his trial proceedings, he shared how the authorities tried him to plead guilty and cooperate in exchanged for a lighter sentencing. He said, “They even said that as long as I plead guilty, they’ll give me a three-year sentence suspended for three years. I rejected it all. My eight-year sentence doesn’t make me indignant or hopeless.”

Wu, who has been in detention since 2015, said he has been subjected to ‘torture and other forms of inhumane treatment’. He also appeals to the international community to hold China accountable for the deteriorating human rights in China and those arrested under false charges.