Beijing publisher and artist Geng Xiaonan and her husband Qin Zhen were charged with “illegal business operation” and sentenced in Beijing Haidian District Court on the 9th. Geng Xiaonan was sentenced to three years in prison, while Qin Zhen was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and three years of probation.
According to media reports, Beijing artist Geng Xiaonan was involved in an “illegal business case” at the Beijing Haidian District Court on the morning of the 9th, and the court handed down the sentence at 5pm that day.
According to a live video of the trial, Geng Xiaonan admitted to all the crimes alleged by the authorities in her self-defense, and admitted to her mistakes, apologized to the society, and took responsibility. She said that she is the actual controller and independent decision maker of the company, and that the duties of her colleagues, including Qin Zhen, were done under her instructions, hoping that the focus of the court’s punishment would be on her.
Geng Xiaonan, 46, listed four pleadings in her self-defense, including: she is a first-Time offender, no subjective criminal intent, no specific victims in the case for the time being, and the need to support and care for her father, who is 80 years old. She said her father is a disabled veteran who went to the Vietnam war and has been living alone for more than 40 years. If she has to face a long sentence, she may lose the opportunity to send her father away for the last time of his Life, and expects the court to take a lighter punishment in the spirit of humane position, healing and Education and warning.
It is reported that Mr. and Mrs. Geng Xiaonan did not have any special reaction after learning the sentence, and did not make a final statement in court.
The video of the trial was deleted shortly after it was broadcast. According to the Central News Agency, the mainland media did not report Geng Xiaonan’s sentence, and there is no information on Weibo or WeChat about her conviction so far.
According to Radio Hong Kong, many of Geng Xiaonan’s close friends, including Wen Dingzhong and Guo Yuhua, came to the Haidian court in Beijing on the morning of the 9th, but were not able to attend the court. Xu Zhangrun, Yan Zhengxue and Ji Feng were all blocked by police at their homes and not allowed to leave.
In recent years, Geng Xiaonan has shown solidarity with people who have been suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party authorities, including Xu Zhiyong, who was arrested by the authorities, Chen Qiushi, a citizen journalist, and Xu Zhangrun, a former law professor at Tsinghua University. It is widely believed that Geng Xiaonan’s arrest is related to her active voice in recent years.
Gao Yu, an independent Chinese journalist, wrote in an article in Light Media that Geng Xiaonan’s case is more complicated and more involved than any other case.
According to Gao Yu, not only was there a large number of people involved in the case (in addition to her and her husband, there were nearly 10 other natural persons, as well as three other entities, including her company and two printing houses), but also more than 200,000 additional copies of “illegal publications” (children’s books and cookbooks) were found in her company’s warehouse in Langfang, Hebei province, last September, and according to the Chinese Communist Party’s Criminal Law for Under the CCP’s Criminal Law, 15,000 copies of a book can be punishable by more than five years in prison; and with Geng Xiaonan under great Family and financial pressure, “under these circumstances, firing defense lawyer Shang Baojun last month at the request of the preliminary hearing was an absolute, non-negotiable choice for her.
Gao Yu wrote: “It is known that Xiaonan has resolved to take all the blame, in order to save her husband and others responsible before the Spring Festival, and to free the two printing houses from responsibility. The lawyer’s defense direction is in line with this, and the defense goal is for Xiaonan to receive a sentence of less than five years, with his husband on probation.” She concluded by saying that many people in the community are working tirelessly to get a lighter sentence for Geng.
Prior to the trial, Gao Yu also tweeted that the authorities chose to hold the trial of Geng Xiaonan and his wife on the eve of the Chinese New Year in order to downplay public attention.
In September last year, Beijing’s Haidian District Public Security Bureau cited the company for “printing and selling illegal publications” and found “a large number of illegal publications, which is suspected of being a crime,” and sentenced Geng and his wife to jail for allegedly “operating an illegal business. “On October 14 of the same year, they were formally arrested.
After Geng Xiaonan was detained, a large number of intellectuals and public figures signed a petition calling on the authorities to release Geng Xiaonan.
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