Pretrial Meeting in Famous Artist Gao Shen’s Case to Be Held at 9 a.m. on March 24, 2026, in the Third Courtroom of Sanhe City Court

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On March 21, 2026, this outlet learned that a pretrial meeting in the case of renowned artist Gao Shen will be held at 9 a.m. on March 24, 2026, in the Third Courtroom of Sanhe City Court.

On August 26, 2024, renowned artist Gao Shen (the elder of the Gao Brothers) was criminally detained on suspicion of infringing the reputation of heroes and martyrs while returning to China to visit family. He was later formally arrested, and the case has reached the court and is at the prosecution stage. On December 14, 2025, a lawyer’s application for bail pending trial in Gao Shen’s case was rejected, and the procuratorate recommended a three-year sentence.

After Gao Shen’s arrest, the writer Ma Jian, who lives in the United Kingdom, launched a global petition in support of him, calling on the authorities to release Gao Shen immediately. The petition has received signatures of support from nearly 200 writers and artists. His wife remains under border control and, for purported reasons involving “national security,” is unable to leave China. Their seven-year-old son, who is a U.S. citizen, is still unable to return to New York to attend school.

Gao Shen’s biography: Renowned artist and the elder of the “Gao Brothers.” On August 27, 2024, his family received a detention notice from the Sanhe City Public Security Bureau stating that he was suspected of infringing the reputation of heroes and martyrs. The works allegedly involved are sculptures created years ago by the Gao Brothers, “Gao Shen + Gao Qiang,” including Execution of Christ, the Miss Mao series, and Mao Kneeling in Repentance. At present, his wife and child have been implicated and are unable to travel abroad.

The Gao Brothers’ elder brother, Gao Shen, was born in 1956, and younger brother Gao Qiang was born in 1962. Both are from Jinan, Shandong. The Gao Brothers are among the most renowned Chinese artists to emerge during China’s reform and opening-up period, and their firm political stance has left its mark on their work.

The Gao family suffered catastrophe during the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong. Their father, who came from Jinan, the provincial capital on the Shandong coast, was persecuted to death in 1968, at the height of the Cultural Revolution; the two brothers were then only 6 and 12 years old, respectively. Twenty-five days after their father’s death, their mother and six children learned of his purported “suicide”; they have always expressed doubts about it. Later, the Gao family went to Beijing to protest this injustice to the central government. In the end, all they received was a negligible compensation payment.

Beginning in 1985, the Gao Brothers collaborated on painting, installation, performance, photography, and other artistic activities. Their sculptures and paintings in particular often addressed sensitive political issues. But the Gao Brothers have never considered themselves dissidents; they were merely expressing their views on society in the course of making art, which could touch upon China’s current political system.

The Gao Brothers were attending an art exhibition in Beijing in February 1989 when they happened to sign Fang Lizhi’s open letter to Deng Xiaoping. As a result, they were treated as dissidents and placed under the authorities’ control. From 1989 to 2003, they were prohibited from traveling abroad and were not permitted to do so again until 2004.

In recent years, the Xi Jinping authorities have continually tightened controls over the speech of domestic dissidents and public intellectuals. In April 2018, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs, intended to hold citizens legally responsible for insulting or defaming the names, images, reputations, and other aspects of heroes and martyrs; it took effect on May 1 of the same year. Gao Shen was arrested on this charge.

This outlet will continue to follow Mr. Gao Shen’s situation.