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Xu Wanping Freed after Nine Years in prison

April 29, 2014

Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned from informed sources that Chongqing veteran dissident Xu Wanping (许万平) was released today after serving nine years of a 12-year sentence for “inciting subversion of state power.” Xu was released today at 6:30 a.m. and taken to his home by prison authorities. Xu is under four years of post-release deprivation of political rights.

Sources told HRIC that he was in poor health throughout his imprisonment, suffering from digestive, prostate, and various other conditions but was denied medical parole—even medical exams—despite multiple requests. When Xu Wanping’s mother passed away on October 10, 2013, sources say, the authorities refused to allow him to attend the funeral. His wife, Chen Xianying (陈贤英), was beaten badly by prison authorities while visiting Xu Wanping.

Xu was born in 1963, and spent almost half his life—twenty years—in prison. In 1989, his participation in the Democracy Movement led to eight years in prison. In 1998, he was ordered to serve three years of Reeducation-Through-Labor as a result of his involvement in the founding of the Chinese Democracy Party.

In 2004, because of his role in planning June Fourth commemorative activities, he was framed by the police and arrested on June 3 for drug trafficking. In 2005, the Chinese authorities seized the opportunity presented by large-scale anti-Japanese marches and protests in March and April in different parts of the country to crackdown on dissidents. Xu was detained on April 30, arrested on May 24 on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power,” and convicted and sentenced in December. He served his prison term at the Chongqing Yuzhou prison.

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