Beijing has released a jailed dissident on parole ahead of next month's Congressional vote on a trade agreement between China and the United States, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said yesterday.
The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in China said in a statement that Mr Chen Lantao, who was sentenced to 18 years in jail for "anti-revolutionary" activity in 1989, was freed on Saturday.
Mr Chen, who served 11 years of his 18-year sentence, was arrested for making a speech in the northern Chinese city of Qingdao two days after the government brutally crushed a student protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Hundreds, probably thousands, were killed in the army crackdown.
The Information Centre said the authorities gave no reason why Mr Chen (36) was released early but it was probably linked to the US Congressional vote on "permanent normal trade relations" with China. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the deal during the week of May 22nd to 26th.
It is expected to be close, with many Democrats siding with labour unions that oppose the bill, fearing potential job losses to lower-paid Chinese workers. Many human rights groups also oppose the pact, citing China's human and labour rights record.
Separately, a Chinese court has sentenced a founder of an outlawed opposition political party to 10 years in jail for subversion, the Hong Kong-based human rights group said.
Mr Zhu Zhengming (39), one of the founders of the China Democracy Party, was arrested in December 1998 and charged with "subversion against state power", the group said late on Saturday. Since December 1998, some 23 leaders of the China Democracy Party have been sentenced to long jail terms. They included prominent dissidents Mr Xu Wenli and Mr Wang Youcai. The banned China Democracy Party was set up by several prominent Chinese dissidents in 1998, taking advantage of an apparent political thaw in the run-up to a landmark visit to China by the US President Bill Clinton.