BEIJING (AFP) — A Chinese democracy activist jailed for trying to organise memorials for the 1989 Tiananmen massacre has been released after serving 16 years of a 20-year sentence, according to a human rights group.
Hu Shigen, 53, was released on Tuesday but has been stripped of his political rights for five years, including the rights of free speech and assembly, Human Rights in China said.
"We welcome the release of Hu Shigen, but it is tragic that Hu had to suffer so many years of abuse, serious health problems and harsh conditions," said Sharon Hom, director of the New York-based rights group.
Zhao Xin, a fellow rights activist who was with Hu in his temporary home in Beijing on Wednesday, told AFP Hu was in very poor physical health.
"When he was picked up on Tuesday, the car only went a short distance and he started vomiting, so he had to stop to rest," Zhao said over the phone.
"I can hardly recognise him. His hair is all white, there isn't a single black hair, and he looks very old."
Hu, who refused to speak to AFP, suffers from intestinal and heart ailments and chronic migraines, according to Human Rights in China.
"He definitely received unfair treatment in prison," Zhao said.
Hu was sentenced to 20 years in December 1994 for "organising and leading a counter-revolutionary group" and inciting counter-revolutionary activities.
He was sentenced with 14 other dissidents who were charged with the same offences, although his was the longest prison term. The start of his sentence was backdated to when he was initially detained in May 1992.
He was picked up in a sweep on underground pro-democracy and labour organisations, after he planned memorial ceremonies in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities for the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre.
Hundreds and possibly thousands of people died on June 4, 1989, when the army moved in to clear out student-led demonstrators who had occupied Tiananmen square for weeks, demanding democracy and an end to official corruption.
The massacre remains one of the most taboo subjects in China, where the official line is that authorities put down the "political disturbance" to safeguard economic and social stability.
Hu was also one of the founders in 1991 of the China Freedom and Democracy Party, with other dissidents such as Wang Guoqi, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 1994.
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