Gao was arrested while visiting family in China in August 2024, after travelling back from the US, where he and his family had immigrated.
He has remained in custody for about two years since then.
The sentence brought an abrupt end to hopes that Gao, who has remained in official custody since his arrest, would soon be released and return to his family in the US.
Zhao said she had prepared clothes for her husband, expecting that he might be freed. I haven’t been able to catch my breath,” she said. Shane Yi, a researcher at Chinese Human Rights Defenders who has advocated for the artist, said Gao plans to appeal. “The lengthy pre-trial detention and, ultimately, decision to convict Gao Zhen and sentence him to the maximum three-year prison term under this offence illustrate the authorities’ determination to deter others from engaging in independent artistic expression,” said Amnesty’s China Director Sarah Brooks. “No artist should face criminal punishment for creating work that challenges official narratives or encourages critical reflection on history,” she said. She said she hopes to be reunited with her husband and return with him to the US.
“I felt two years was my limit, and I was really disappointed and sad. Gao’s supporters say the works predate the law under which he was prosecuted. For Zhao, however, the case remains deeply personal. Chinese courts often count time spent in pre-trial detention as time served towards a prison sentence.
A family visit to China back in August 2024 ended with a three-year prison sentence for a US-based Chinese artist. Gao Zhen, a member of the artistic duo the Gao brothers, was given the prison sentence over a satirical artwork involving statues of Mao Zedong.