Mr. Li Wangyang, China’s Labour Movement Leader and Democrat

• Author: China Law Digest compiled news

Li Wang Yang, 62, was one of China’s most severely persecuted political prisoners. In the 1970s, Li was a worker in the Shaoyang Glass Factory in Hunan Province Shaoyang City. He set up a labor union in 1983, and was the founder of the newspaper “Zijiang Minbao”. In 1989, he served as the Chairman of the Shaoyang City Autonomous Workers’ League. After organizing a memorial for victims of the June 4 Incident, he was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for the crime of setting up “counterrevolutionary organization”, which was later increased to 13 years. Upon his release, Li called for vindication of the June 4 Incident, and petitioned for compensation for mistreatment in the prison. He was then charged of inciting subversion of state power and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He suffered from heart disease, blindness in left eye, binaural hearing loss and leg paralysis as a result of the prison torture.

In 2004, while Li was in jail, a real estate developer demolished his house which was situated at the city center without his authorization. After his release, the government refused to pay retirement pension to Li, who was qualified to receive such for having worked for 20 years. Li had no choice but to live with his sister Li Wangling and her family in a small house of 20 square meters. Li Wangling was sentenced to three years of re-education through labor for helping his brother to fight for compensation for mistreatment in the prison.

Li, who was receiving medical treatment under intense police supervision, was found dead on June 6 this year. On June 9, the officials seized and cremated Li’s body without being authorized by his family. Li Wangling, Li Wangyang’s sister and her husband Zhao Baozhu are now missing...