Liu Shaoming's arrest took place late in the evening of 29 May 2015, when police arrived at his home, searched the residence, and took the defender into custody. As court proceedings would later reveal, Liu Shaoming was arrested in response to his written account of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, which had been posted online several days prior. The defender was kept in detention until his trial on 15 April 2016, and again until the announcement of a verdict on 7 July 2017, over two years after his arrest. The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court declared Liu Shaoming guilty of "inciting subversion to state power" and sentenced him to 4.5 years' imprisonment.