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CNN: Anger, Suspicion over Chinese Activist's 'Suicide'

June 7, 2012

 

Excerpted from CNN:
[Li Wangyang] was one of China's first labor rights activists and was jailed shortly after the June 4 massacre for urging workers to strike, according to Human Rights in China (HRIC).[...] 
 
They refused and he was sentenced to a further 10 years for "incitement to subvert state power," according to HRIC. He was released last May but his family said he had been under 24-hour police surveillance in hospital. [...] 
 
Li's brother-in-law Zhao Baozhu told HRIC that hospital staff phoned him and his wife, Li's sister Li Wangling, just after 6 a.m. on June 6 to tell them that Li had committed suicide. [...]
 
"They [hospital staff] did not let us get near him, and did not let us take photos. Then they dragged his body away," HRIC said in statement on its website.
 
It's not known how long Li had been in hospital before his death. HRIC said only that he was being treated for his "deteriorating health." Zhao told HRIC that authorities started monitoring Li on May 22.
For more information on Li Wangyang, see "Relatives Question Hunan Activist’s 'Suicide'; Demand Autopsy."