In recent days, the trial of the Guo Hong case in Shenyang has begun. In court, the prosecution revealed that the former director of the Shenyang Municipal Letters and Visits Office, Chen Guoqiang, had privately opened accounts and deposited over one billion yuan. However, Guo Hong’s whistleblowing is considered as pressuring the government or inciting trouble for sentencing.
Guo Hong, a former official of the Shenyang Letters and Visits Office, has been detained for two years and appeared in court at the Yuhong District Court on September 12th. Prior to this, Guo Hong’s prosecution was repeatedly extended by the Yuhong District Procuratorate. According to sources, the court session started at 9 a.m. and went on until 8:30 p.m., with a 20-minute lunch break. Only a few family members were allowed to attend as observers, while dissidents and rights activists from Shenyang were not permitted. The atmosphere was tense, with several plainclothes police vehicles monitoring the court both inside and outside.
Insiders revealed that in court, the prosecution disclosed that Chen Guoqiang had privately opened six accounts. He had deposited sixty million yuan in one bank, fifty million yuan in another, and one billion yuan in a different bank. They mentioned all six accounts and even provided the account numbers. It was indicated that they found issues with Chen Guoqiang, had already taken action against him, demoting him from a department-level to a bureau-level position, and giving him a warning punishment within the Party.
“Embezzling over a billion yuan only resulted in an internal warning and demotion for Chen Guoqiang. He was a department-level official and the former Secretary of the Shenyang Municipal Committee, being demoted to a bureau-level position upon retirement, still enjoying retirement benefits. This is illegal. Yet, they proudly claim ‘we’ve handled it’.”
“Isn’t this a classic case of catching the thief instead of the stolen goods? The lawyer argued firmly: we are all knowledgeable and cultured individuals. Let me ask you now: with Chen Guoqiang’s six private accounts, let’s add them up: does it exceed one billion yuan? Was Guo Hong’s reported information true? Did he provide false information? The judge remained speechless. If Guo Hong’s report was based on facts, then why target him? The judge had no response.”
During the trial, Guo Hong, a law graduate, rebutted the evidence provided by the prosecution using relevant legal articles and sections. The prosecutor from the Procuratorate ultimately recommended a sentence of less than five years.
Guo Hong’s sister, Guo Song, who is currently in New Zealand, mentioned to the Epoch Times that Shenyang wants to convict Guo Hong on the charge of inciting trouble to the fullest extent. The justification being that Guo Hong “pressured the government” and “applied pressure on the government.”
“Faced with the evil regime of the Chinese Communist Party, what can one do with logic? When the common people point out issues with corrupt officials and nothing is done, and when we report it, it’s considered pressuring the government. Does that mean we allow corrupt officials to embezzle all the people’s money? Guo Hong spoke up, and that became pressuring the government? They are so unreasonable.”
Guo Hong, a former department-level official with the Shenyang Bureau of Letters and Visits, began whistleblowing in 2014 against Chen Guoqiang, the director of the Shenyang Municipal Letters and Visits Office, for embezzling over a billion yuan intended for stability maintenance funds and for persecuting petitioners to the death at the Qi Pan Shan stabilization base. However, after eight years of reporting, there were no results. Instead, in 2015, Guo Hong was arrested for “illegally obtaining personal information (of Chen Guoqiang)” and endured illegal detainment and torture, resulting in perforated eardrums, injuries to the cervical spine, lumbar spine, and more.
In October 2023, while on his way to petition in Beijing, Guo Hong was surrounded by over ten individuals from the Shenyang Public Security Bureau and Letters and Visits Office for nine days and nights in a car. To save himself, he drove one of the cars labeled “Shenyang Government” in front of him and escaped. After being captured on the highway, Guo Hong was initially detained for the crime of “deliberate damage to public finances” and later charged with inciting trouble.
Guo Hong had also sought attention from international human rights organizations, expressing his frustration with the current state of the rule of law in China, where the judiciary system is lacking, and the difficulties Chinese people face in defending their rights. It was revealed that Chen Guoqiang had fled the country in 2016, with his entire family immigrating to Australia. Chen Guoqiang is still the chief screenwriter of the CCTV drama series “Letters and Visits Director,” and relevant information is still available on the official website of the National Bureau of Letters and Visits of the People’s Republic of China.