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China frees Tiananmen activist
23/02/2006 08:24 - (SA)
Beijing - A Chinese journalist freed nearly 17 years after he was jailed for splattering ink on Mao Zedong's portrait during the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement has gone insane, his father said on Thursday.
"He is suffering from mental illness... he gives few responses and has not said anything," said Yu Yingkui, the father of Yu Dongyue, who was released on Wednesday.
"Of course we're happy he's back... now that he's back we have to try ways to cure his illness."
Yu, a journalist and art critic with Liuyang News, was arrested in May 1989 during the Tiananmen student protests after he and two friends defaced the giant portrait of Mao Zedong that overlooks the square with ink.
He was convicted two months later of "sabotage" and "counter-revolutionary propaganda" and jailed for 20 years.
One of Yu's friends who was arrested over the same incident, Lu Decheng, was released from prison in 1998 and fled to Thailand in 2004.
Another friend also jailed for the same crime, Yu Zhijian, was released in 2000, but was reportedly recently detained again for being involved in hunger strike campaign staged by dissidents.
As in the case of other Chinese dissidents released from prison, many restrictions have been placed on Yu Dongyue, said John Kamm, head of US-based Dui Hua Foundation, a lobby group that focuses on Chinese political prisoners.
Deprived of his political rights, he will be barred from working in state-owned enterprises, universities, newspapers and even foreign firms, said Kamm. He is also forbidden from speaking to the media.
"He will be a targeted person for the rest of his life," said Kamm.
The Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement ended in bloodshed on June 4 1989 when tanks crushed the demonstrations, killing thousands of protestors.
- AFP
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