Present classification: Former / released · Region: Mainland China
Guo Xinmin / 郭新民 is a labor-rights activist from Tianshui, Gansu, and a former political prisoner.
According to Amnesty International, Guo and fellow driver Yue Tianxiang were laid off from the Tianshui City Transport Company in 1995 while the company owed them three months’ back pay. They pursued the dispute through the Tianshui Labour Disputes and Arbitration Committee, but the company’s management did not comply with an order for reinstatement.
In January 1999, Yue Tianxiang, Guo Xinmin, and Wang Fengshan set up the newsletter China Workers Monitor (《中国工人观察》), intended to report alleged mismanagement and corruption and defend laid-off workers’ rights. Amnesty reports that they also petitioned then-President Jiang Zemin and were arrested shortly afterward.
Amnesty International reports that Yue was sentenced in July 1999 to ten years’ imprisonment for “subverting state power,” while Guo and Wang were each sentenced to two years. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that the Tianshui People’s Intermediate Court handed down the sentences on July 5, 1999. Amnesty later reported that Guo and Wang had been released; Reporters Without Borders recorded release at the end of their sentences. The exact release date is not established.
Sources: Amnesty International, “Detained and Imprisoned Labour Rights Activists” (ASA 17/014/2002); Committee to Protect Journalists prison censuses; Amnesty International Report 2002; Reporters Without Borders Annual Report 2004.