Zhou Dan (周丹) — Political Prisoner Profile
周丹 (Zhou Dan), born November 18, 1978, is a native of Yuechi County, Sichuan Province, and a former resident of 34 Taiping Street, Xunjiao Town, Yuechi. He is a core member of the unregistered political group known as the "China Democratic Victory Party" (中国民主胜利党, "Minsheng Party"), and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for subversion of state power.
Background
According to monitoring-organization records, Zhou — who formerly used the name 周旋 (Zhou Xuan) — became acquainted with democracy advocate Tang Gaofeng around 2009, and subsequently met Wang Wei, Wang Yifei, Liu Zhengang, and Dai Lu, among others. The records state that the group began planning to form an opposition party in secret.
In October 2011, the China Democratic Victory Party announced its formation and held what the records describe as a secret first central committee meeting in a rented room in Chengdu, Sichuan. Zhou is reported to have participated actively and to have become one of the party's core members. The authorities later characterized the meeting as having adopted a platform aimed at overturning Communist Party leadership and changing the system, and as having established the group's organizational structure. With funding from Tang Gaofeng, who had become the party's chairman, the core members are reported to have promoted the party abroad, recruited members, and published statements against one-party rule.
Between 2011 and 2016, Zhou and the other core members publicized the party's founding and platform on international social-media platforms and continued to recruit, the records state. In early 2016, Tang Gaofeng cut contact with the group and stopped funding as the political atmosphere tightened; Zhou continued his activities, including attending an overseas organizational training session in late April 2016.
Detention, trial, and sentence
On August 25, 2021, Zhou was detained by Luzhou city police in Sichuan and placed in criminal detention. On September 18, 2021, he was formally arrested on suspicion of "subversion of state power" (颠覆国家政权罪).
On April 24, 2024, six defendants in the case were tried and sentenced in separate verdicts at the Luzhou Intermediate People's Court. The court found that Zhou had, among other acts, spread statements online and offline attacking state power and the socialist system and recruited people inside China to expand the group, and classified him as an "active participant." He was sentenced to six years' imprisonment, three years' deprivation of political rights, and confiscation of 50,000 yuan of personal property. The other five defendants received sentences of twelve to three years for the same offense.
Wang Wei, Liu Zhengang, and others appealed. On December 2, 2024, the Sichuan High People's Court rejected the appeals and upheld the original verdicts. Zhou's sentence is recorded as running through August 24, 2027.
Current status
As of the most recent available records (February–March 2025), Zhou is reported to be held at the Luzhou City Detention Center (泸州市看守所). The monitoring records state that, as of those dates, the families of all six defendants had not received legal documents or notifications, and the prisoners' conditions were unknown to their families. No later verified information is available.
Further reporting, source chronology, and source verification for this case are collected in the Media Profile & Archive.