Zhejiang Hangzhou Democrat and 1989 Student Leader Xu Guang, Sentenced to Four Years, Released Today After Completing His Sentence

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On May 19, 2026，this outlet learned that: Xu Guang, a Zhejiang Hangzhou Democrat and 1989 student leader who was sentenced to four years, completed his sentence today.。

Xu Guang’s biography：Born on September 11, 1968，in Fuyang City, Zhejiang Province，he graduated from the Biology Department of Hangzhou University in 1990，and participated in the 1986 and 1989 student patriotic democratic movements while at university，was a student movement leader at Hangzhou University during the “1989 student movement,” and was a core member of the Zhejiang Committee of the China Democracy Party.。

In June 1998，Xu Guang, who was working at the Environmental Monitoring Station of the Environmental Protection Bureau in his hometown of Fuyang City, formed the “Preparatory Committee of the Fuyang City, Zhejiang Province Branch of the China Democracy Party,”，the China Democracy Party’s first county-level organisation. He wrote articles including “The China Democracy Party That Can Never Be Fully Arrested”，and drafted the “Open Declaration on the Establishment of the Preparatory Committee of the Fuyang City China Democracy Party,”，was arrested by Hangzhou authorities on June 23，and formally arrested on September 15. In November of the same year, Xu Guang was sentenced to five years in prison for “subversion of state power”，with two years’ deprivation of political rights; after being released from prison, Xu Guang continued to hold firm to his beliefs and criticise current abuses. On April 2, 2014, he was criminally detained by Zhejiang authorities on suspicion of “subversion of state power” for participating in chats about the China Democracy Party on QQ，formally arrested on May 9，and released on July 31 of the same year; during that period, he was never permitted to meet with a lawyer. He was later released.

On May 24, 2022，as the anniversary of the “June Fourth” incident approached, Xu Guang received a summons from the Yuquan Police Station of the Xihu District Public Security Bureau in the district where he lived，but Xu Guang ignored it. On the morning of May 25，while shopping in the Dongshanlong residential community where he lived, Xu Guang passed near the Yuquan Police Station of the Xihu District Public Security Bureau in its jurisdiction and happened to encounter police officers from the station. He was taken into the police station and warned not to make any sensitive statements or engage in any sensitive conduct related to “June Fourth” as the anniversary approached; his mobile phone was forcibly taken away. On May 26, Xu Guang went to the Yuquan Police Station carrying a piece of paper bearing the words “Rehabilitate June Fourth,” protesting the police persecution against him. That day, Xu Guang was criminally detained by state security officers, his home was searched, and he was subsequently held in detention. Xu Guang began a hunger strike in protest that day and remains on hunger strike to this day, being kept alive through nasogastric feeding. At 5 p.m. on June 24, Hangzhou state security officers searched Xu Guang’s home for a second time, and on July 2, 2022, formally arrested Xu Guang. The charge against Xu Guang was suspected “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” The authorities alleged that Xu Guang “between 2018 and 2022, posted videos and articles on WeChat, Facebook, Telegram, and YouTube, spreading false information that harmed the country’s image and endangered national interests. Xu Guang is accused of picking quarrels and provoking trouble online.” Xu Guang believes that he was framed by the authorities. Xu Guang said: As a participant in Hangzhou’s June Fourth student movement at the time, he publicly commemorated “1989 June Fourth” every year and held up signs reading “Never Forget June Fourth.” To meet the need for stability maintenance around June Fourth, the authorities suppressed China Democracy Party members and arrested him before June Fourth. Xu Guang firmly demanded that his lawyer present a not-guilty defence. Xu Guang is currently detained at the detention centre of the Xihu District branch of the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau. He has continued his hunger-strike protest in prison. On April 3, 2024，Xu Guang was tried and sentenced by the Xihu District Court in Hangzhou，receiving a four-year prison sentence for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. His sentence ends on: May 19, 2026.