Nanyang man sentenced to four years for VPN social media posts, released September 2026

Full report

Update (October 22, 2026): After his release, Jia Pin made a new disclosure — according to Rights Movement and other outlets on October 13, relayed in MNewsTV's October 19 roundup, he says he was assigned more than ten hours of high-intensity labor daily at Yuxi Prison and alleges that Hangzhou Taipu Co. had production cooperation with the prison. That disclosure is his personal account and has not been independently verified; this site has established a separate 'under ongoing verification' record for it ('After completing his sentence, Jia Pin discloses Yuxi Prison labor account'). The sentencing and release facts in this record, verified against judicial documents, and its 'verified record' grading remain unchanged.

The indictment by the Wolong District People's Procuratorate of Nanyang (Wanlongjianxingsu [2023] No. Z1) alleges: from 2014 to July 2022, defendant Jia Pin (born February 27, 1989, junior high education, resident of Wolong District, Nanyang, Henan) used VPN tools to log onto and register Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts, accumulating 19,500推粉, 854 accounts followed, 2,609 followers and 4,612 friends, and used these accounts to "spread false information, stir up trouble, and seriously disrupt public order." [1]

On September 22, 2022, Jia was detained in Beihai, Guangxi by the Wolong branch of the Nanyang Public Security Bureau and brought back to Nanyang on September 24. His arrest was approved on November 28, 2022 (executed January 12, 2023 due to COVID). The case was transferred for prosecution review on January 3, 2023, and indicted on March 9. [1]

The criminal verdict by the Wolong District People's Court of Nanyang (No. (2023) Yu 1303 Xingshi Chu 154) found: the defendant fabricated false information, knowingly disseminated it on the internet, stirred up trouble and seriously disrupted public order, constituting the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Prosecutors recommended four years; the defendant did not dispute the basic facts but contested the characterization of the posts, arguing they did not constitute the crime — the court rejected this. Sentence: four years' imprisonment, from September 22, 2022 to September 21, 2026. The phone used in the offense was confiscated. [2]

The release certificate (No. (2026) Yuxi Shizheng Zi 428) states Jia served the full four-year term and was released on September 21, 2026. [3]

In his October 6, 2026 Facebook post, Jia wrote: "From my arrest until my release, I had no contact with the outside world, and I didn't even have a lawyer at trial." [4]

This site has verified: the case numbers, court names, dates and sentence terms across the three documents are mutually consistent; the account data in the verdict matches the indictment. The document photos were published by the individual himself on Facebook and are reported here with his consent.