Dong Yuyu, former deputy director of the Commentary Department of Guangming Daily sentenced to 7 years, transferred to Tianjin Chaobai Prison to serve his sentence

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On April 21, 2026，this outlet learned：Dong Yuyu, former deputy director of the Commentary Department of Guangming Daily who was sentenced to 7 years, was transferred to Tianjin Chaobai Prison on March 17, 2026, to serve his sentence。

Dong Yuyu’s biography：Born in 1962，a native of Fushun, Liaoning Province，a participant in the June Fourth events，a former visiting scholar at Harvard University in the United States and Keio University and Hokkaido University in Japan，former deputy director of the Commentary Department of Guangming Daily，liberal thinker，and political prisoner detained in China。

He studied in the Law Department of Peking University in his early years and began working for Guangming Daily after graduating in 1987；

In 1989，he was sent down for one year for participating in the June Fourth protests，then returned to Guangming Daily，and also wrote for the domestic history magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu and commentaries for the Chinese-language website of The New York Times；

In 2006，he became a visiting scholar at Harvard University for one year after receiving a Nieman Journalism Fellowship from the university，and subsequently also served as a visiting scholar at Keio University and Hokkaido University in Japan；

On February 21, 2022，he was suddenly taken away by police for questioning after having lunch with a Japanese diplomat at the Xinqiao Hotel in Beijing，and the Japanese diplomat was also taken away and released several hours later，but Dong was held for an extended period，with the alleged offense unclear；on the same day，the Japanese government immediately lodged a protest over the matter，while the Chinese government responded that the two had been investigated and detained because they had engaged in activities that were “inconsistent” with their work、拘捕；

After he had been detained for more than a year，on March 23, 2023，his family finally received notification from Beijing police claiming that he had been formally arrested on suspicion of “espionage” and indicted by a procuratorate in Beijing；his case was soon transferred to a court in Beijing for trial；his family insisted that he was neither a spy nor a foreign agent，and, seeking justice, family members who had previously chosen to remain silent decided to make the matter public；

It is understood that since his detention，his family has continuously been barred from seeing him，and his defense lawyer has met with him only once；to date，the specific date of the court’s trial of him remains unclear。He is currently detained at an undisclosed detention center in southern Beijing。

On November 29, 2024，Dong Yuyu was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Chinese Communist Party authorities on the charge of “espionage”。His sentence runs until February 20, 2029。On November 13, 2025，the second-instance verdict was announced：the appeal was rejected and the original judgment upheld。He was transferred to Tianjin Chaobai Prison on March 17, 2026, to serve his sentence。