Gwangju Laureates Stand in Solidarity with Human Rights Defenders and Democracy Activist

JOINT STATEMENT

Gwangju Laureates Stand in Solidarity with Human Rights Defenders and Democracy Activists

The Network of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights Laureates (NLG)

11 October 2026

We, the laureates of the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, express our solidarity with all those who continue to defend democracy and human rights in the face of repression. Across the world, including in Thailand, Myanmar, and Hong Kong, human rights defenders, political prisoners, civil society activists, and ordinary citizens continue to face imprisonment, violence, and restrictions on fundamental freedoms. In Myanmar, civilians continue to suffer from military violence and restrictions on humanitarian assistance, while political prisoners remain deprived of their freedom. We stand in solidarity with all those who continue to defend human rights, democracy, and peace under these difficult circumstances.

In particular, we stand in solidarity with our fellow Gwangju Prize laureates and human rights defenders Arnon Nampa, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, and Chow Hang-tung, who have been imprisoned for their peaceful efforts to defend democracy and fundamental freedoms. We call on the Thai and Hong Kong authorities to immediately release them and unconditionally drop all charges against them. They are not criminals, but defenders of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in their societies.

The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights was established in 2000 to carry forward the spirit of the May 18 Democratic Uprising, when the people of Gwangju stood up against military repression in defense of democracy and human rights. The Prize recognizes individuals and organizations who have contributed to the advancement of human rights, democracy, and peace in their communities and countries. As laureates of the Prize, we recognize in Arnon, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, and Chow the same commitment to these values and the courage to defend them in the face of repression.

Arnon Nampa, who was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights in 2021, is a Thai human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist. Since 2009, Arnon has defended people prosecuted under Thailand’s lèse-majesté law, before standing at the forefront of the movement himself and delivering speeches that broke years of taboo around the role of the monarchy in Thai society. Even after being sentenced to imprisonment on 26 September 2023 for his peaceful advocacy for democratic and monarchy reforms, he continued to represent clients in court—barefoot, shackled, and clad in a prison uniform. He has since been convicted 11 times under the lèse-majesté law and sentenced to more than 31 years and nine months in prison. Separated from his two young children, his only crimes were speaking the truth to those in power who were not ready to hear it.

Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights in 2017, is a Thai human rights defender and one of the core leaders of Dao Din, a student-led movement that has long stood for community rights, social justice, and democracy. He was among the young activists who resisted the 2014 military coup and has since been at the forefront of the struggle for democracy, freedom of expression, and community rights across Thailand. For refusing to be intimidated into silence, he has been prosecuted in at least 27 cases since 2014, including three under the lèse-majesté law, and sentenced to more than nine years in prison under various repressive laws. Since his most recent conviction on 3 September 2025, he has remained detained at Bangkok Remand Prison. Yet imprisonment has never stopped Jatupat Boonpattararaksa from standing up again. His courage is the courage to keep resisting, even when he knows exactly what it may cost him.

Chow Hang-tung, awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights in 2023, is a Hong Kong human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist who has been imprisoned since 2021 for her peaceful activism. On September 11 this year, she was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison on charge of “inciting subversion” under the National Security Law. As a former vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, she has worked to preserve the memory of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and defend freedom, democracy, and human rights. Even from prison, Chow has continued to speak out for these values. In her acceptance speech for the Gwangju Prize, she declared that fighting for freedom and democracy was her lifelong aspiration and that she would not give up. More recently, in her closing statement before the court, she invoked the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement as an example of citizens defending democracy and the constitutional order in the face of repression. Her continued imprisonment for peaceful advocacy stands in direct contradiction to the fundamental freedoms she has devoted herself to defending.

We call on the authorities to immediately cease prosecuting or detaining Arnon Nampa, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, Chow Hang-tung, and other human rights defenders who have raised their voices for democracy and human rights for exercising their freedom of expression. The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights honors those who have shown courage in the struggle for human rights, democracy, and peace. Arnon, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, and Chow embody these values through their unwavering commitment to speaking out against injustice, defending fundamental freedoms, and standing up for democratic societies, even in the face of repression. Their courage is the very spirit that the Gwangju Prize was created to honor. We stand with them and call for their immediate release.