Freed Chinese dissident complains of police beating

Jan 25, 2011, 8:15 GMT

Beijing - A prominent Chinese dissident Tuesday said police beat and threatened him as he was released after eight years in prison, during which he said he was once tortured for 85 days.

He Depu, a founding member of the banned China Democracy Party, said he arrived at his Beijing home Monday, three hours after his release from prison.

'When I went out of the prison gate, the policemen were already waiting there,' 54-year-old He told the German Press Agency dpa by telephone.

'They wanted to shove me into a police vehicle, but I refused.

'Then we scuffled. They had a dozen people, or maybe even 20. In the fight, I was injured in my neck and hands,' He said.

'My wife was at my side. She felt very angry but she couldn't do anything,' he said.

He said he did not regret his democracy activism and planned to continue it despite the probability that police would keep him under 'residential surveillance,' or virtual house arrest.

'I never feel regret because I never did anything wrong,' he said.

'I will continue the cause of Chinese democracy and freedom, and still persist with my work,' He said.

'Not only me, [but also] all of China's democracy supporters are strong-willed,' he said.

He said his health had deteriorated in prison and he was taking medication for high blood pressure.

Police officers subjected him to 85 days of torture after his detention in November 2002, he said at his trial for subversion the following year.

'The national security police took me to a small, dark room and about 20 of them tortured me in turn, in groups of four,' He told US-based Radio Free Asia Monday.

'At one point, they were all pulling on my arms and legs, stretching me out, four of them on each limb,' he said,

'Those were the worst 85 days of my life,' He said adding that he sustained untreated injuries to his shoulders, groin and lower back.

Chinese courts jailed at least 25 others with ties to the China Democracy Party, though nearly all of them are thought to have been released.

Authorities released Qin Yongmin, another founding member of the banned party, in November after he completed a 12-year prison sentence.

Qin, 57, refused to leave the prison in the central city of Wuhan because he protested the authorities' confiscation of his journals and letters.

Qin also vowed to continue his activism and, like He, said he was 'persecuted very severely' in prison.

'For China's democracy and human rights activists, China is just a big prison. I was released from prison into another big prison,' Qin told

Read more about China Justice

Read more about Politics