Case Details and Profile of Gansu Rights Defender Zhou Lubao, Sentenced to 14 Years

On October 11, 2026, this site learned of the case details and profile of Gansu rights defender Zhou Lubao, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison. They are reported as follows:

Zhou Lubao: A male rights defender from Gansu, born on April 10, 1985, and a native of Yuntian Town, Longxi County, Gansu. In 2011, Zhou Lubao was charged with extortion in connection with online rights defense and sentenced to five years in prison by the Kunshan City Court in Jiangsu Province, and fined 30,000 yuan.

After Zhou Lubao was released from prison, in March 2024 he continued helping people defend their rights. He published more than 25 posts on Sina Weibo, and was criminally detained by the Chengguan Branch of the Lanzhou Public Security Bureau on suspicion of picking quarrels and provoking trouble solely because dozens of the posts reposted messages by Gansu migrant workers seeking unpaid wages. He was formally arrested on April 3 of the same year. Several other people, including Lanzhou rights defender Jing Shuren, were also arrested in connection with the case. In September 2024, Lanzhou police transferred the case to the Chengguan District Procuratorate in Lanzhou for review and prosecution, accusing seven people, including Zhou Lubao, of the crimes of organizing, leading, or participating in an organization of a mafia-like nature, extortion, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and illegal business operations.

In late September 2026, Zhou Lubao was sentenced at first instance to 14 years in prison and fined 120,000 yuan for picking quarrels and provoking trouble and extortion. Jing Shuren was sentenced to four years in prison. All seven defendants in the case denied the charges and stated in court that they would appeal. His sentence runs until March 2038.