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A Chinese artist known for his satirical sculptures of Mao Zedong has been handed a maximum three-year jail term for “slandering China’s heroes”, according to rights groups.

A court in Hebei province had ruled on Tuesday that Gao Zhen’s work “infringes upon the hero’s reputation and harms public interest”.

Among the 70-year-old’s most famous pieces, produced with his brother Gao Qiang, is a sculpture comprising a squad of Mao-like figures holding Jesus Christ at gunpoint.

Gao has been in detention for the past two years, and the UN and many rights groups have called for him to be released. Amnesty International has called his sentencing an “assault” on artistic freedom.

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Gao had moved to the US in 2022 but was arrested at his studio on the outskirts of Beijing during a visit in August 2024.

As the Human Right Foundation, an NGO, reported:

In the summer of 2024, Gao returned to China with his wife, Zhao Yaliang, and their six-year-old son, Gao Jia. Gao planned to continue his art while Zhao wanted time with her aging mother. Loved ones had reportedly warned him of the risks of returning, but Gao believed that his recent work was no longer overtly political, and previous visits had ended without arrest.

On August 26, 2024, just a week before he was scheduled to return to the United States, 30 police officers barged into his studio and demanded that he surrender his phone. When he refused, officers reportedly handcuffed him, forced him down, confiscated his phone, and arrested him.

Hours later, he was informed that the regime had charged him with “slandering heroes and martyrs.” The police also questioned his Beijing-based twin brother, Gao Shen (高甡). The next day, his wife received a detention notice, and officials formally approved his arrest.

Since then, Gao has been held in the Sanhe City Detention Center.

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China watchers have said that Gao Zhen’s arrest shows how the Chinese Communist Party is becoming increasingly extreme in both grasp and reach – including by policing its citizens transnationally and retroactively.

He was charged under a law that came into force in March 2018, which bans the defamation of historical figures associated with the party.

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Gao’s case was heard in a one-day, closed-door trial earlier this year, which received limited coverage in China.

He plans to appeal the conviction, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

If the verdict is upheld, Gao would be due to complete his sentence in August 2027 as it would take into account the two years that he has already spent in detention.

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“No artist should face criminal punishment for creating work that challenges official narratives or encourages critical reflection on history,” Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks said on Tuesday.

“This trial demonstrates how broadly worded and politically motivated laws are used – and worse, in this case, used retroactively – to silence artists, activists and other individuals who dare to express views that differ from those of the Chinese government,” she said.

“The case against [Gao Zhen] raises particular concerns with regard to the retroactive application of criminal law, the use of criminal sanctions to punish artistic expression, and the impact on his family,” the UN’s Human Rights Office told AFP news agency.

Earlier this year, his brother Gao Qiang told the BBC that the trial’s “message is clear”.

“Even if a work was made 15 years ago, it can still be turned into a crime if today’s political climate changes,” he said.

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