Tiananmen ‘hooligan’ released

BEIJING – The last-known prisoner jailed on the charge of hooliganism after protesting the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement has been released ahead of the 20th anniversary of the suppression, a rights group said yesterday.

The Dui Hua Foundation said Liu Zhihua was one of four workers who organised a factory strike in the central province of Hunan to protest the June 3 – 4 military action, which left hundreds if not thousands dead. The strike took place at the state-owned Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Works, where more than 10 000 people were employed, and had the added sensitivity of being in Xiangtan, the home town of Mao Zedong, founder of communist China, it said. Liu, who was 24 at the time, was accused of inciting crowds with anti-government speeches, the San Francisco-based group said, citing media accounts at the time. He was given a life sentence, which was commuted in 1993 to 15 years, Dui Hua said. It was further reduced several times, most recently in 2008, it said. Liu was freed from Loudi prison in Hunan in January but word of his release only trickled out last week, the group said, citing an unnamed source. Loudi prison’s telephone number was classified as a state secret and not listed, according to directory assistance. Government and police officials in Hunan did not immediately respond to faxed requests for information. Liu, Peng Shi and Liu Jian were given life sentences on the now-obsolete charge of hooliganism. The fourth man, Chen Gang, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. All the sentences were reduced over the years, the group said. Earlier this month, Dui Hua estimated that 30 men remain in prison for clashes with China’s military during the Tiananmen crackdown – a steep drop from the original 60 it said were still behind bars. It revised the number because of new information about prisoner releases from the Chinese government and a Chinese human rights campaigner. The prisoners – then mostly young workers – were jailed for burning army trucks, stealing equipment or attacking soldiers as the military advanced toward student-led protesters on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing. – Nampa-AP