Chinese court sentences artist Gao Zhen to three years

Works cited in Gao’s case predate the 2021 law

The prosecution relied on works created in the early 2000s, more than 15 years ago, under a law introduced in 2021. Gao’s supporters have called the case an attack on speech and an unjust retroactive application of the law.

Gao Zhen and his brother created art that criticized the excesses of Communist Party rule in China. Their work examined the Cultural Revolution and the political violence China endured under Mao. Their father was detained as a counterrevolutionary during that period and died in custody.

Among the brothers’ most famous works, The Execution of Christ depicts a firing squad of Mao’s taking aim at Jesus. Mao’s Guilt shows the late Chinese leader kneeling with his hand over his heart, seemingly in a display of penance. The Miss Mao sculpture series depicts the former leader with an exaggerated nose and breasts.

Police seized more than 100 works when they arrested Gao in 2024. The artist was a U.S. permanent resident who was visiting his studio on the outskirts of Beijing at the time of his arrest.

The Wall Street Journal reported that work like Gao’s had been possible in an earlier era in China, but that the room for artistic expression had contracted under Xi Jinping, who took power in 2012.

Human-rights groups criticized Gao’s conviction and sentence as an attack on artistic freedom. Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China director, said the trial showed how broadly worded and politically motivated laws were used, including retroactively in Gao’s case, to silence artists, activists and others who expressed views different from those of the Chinese government.

Gao has chronic lumbar spine disease and arthritis, and his health has deteriorated in custody, Gao Qiang said. Gao Qiang said he feared his brother could suffer the same fate as Cao Shunli, a Chinese human-rights activist who died in custody in 2014.

Supporters said Chinese authorities also barred Gao’s wife and their 7-year-old son, a U.S. citizen, from leaving China. Gao Qiang said in a statement last week that the consequences of his brother’s detention extended beyond Gao himself.