Advertisement
Advertisement

China releases jailed Taiwanese activist, sends him home

By:
Reuters
Updated: Apr 15, 2022, 07:21 UTC

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A Taiwanese activist jailed in China returned to Taiwan on Friday after completing a five-year sentence.

Li Ching-yu, the wife of Taiwan activist Li Ming-che, sentenced to five years in prison by Chinese authorities for subverting state power speaks to the press on the fourth anniversary of his imprisonment in Taipei,

TAIPEI (Reuters) -A Taiwanese activist jailed in China returned to Taiwan on Friday after completing a five-year sentence.

Li Ming-che, a community college lecturer and activist at a human rights non-governmental organisation in Taiwan, disappeared while visiting China in 2017.

Later that year, a Chinese court found him guilty of subversion in a trial that his wife denounced as illegitimate, saying she had not been allowed to hire lawyers for her husband.

Li landed at Taiwan’s main international airport in Taoyuan, and will have to complete government-mandated quarantine, a group of Taiwanese human rights groups that campaigned for his release said in a statement.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said this week that Li’s sentence would soon be complete and he would be returned to Taiwan.

Li admitted during his trial to having criticised China’s ruling Communist Party and to having shared articles and arguments promoting Taiwan’s multi-party democracy.

Beijing maintains that Taiwan is part of China and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control, while democratic Taiwan has shown no interest in being governed by the Communist Party rulers in Beijing.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said it was happy Li was home.

“The government believes that there is no crime in spreading democratic ideals,” the council said.

Li stood trial alongside Chinese national Peng Yuhua, 37, who confessed to creating instant messaging groups and founding an organisation that sought to promote political change in China.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard;Editing by Robert Birsel)

About the Author

Reuterscontributor

Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest international multimedia news provider reaching more than one billion people every day. Reuters provides trusted business, financial, national, and international news to professionals via Thomson Reuters desktops, the world's media organizations, and directly to consumers at Reuters.com and via Reuters TV. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products:

Did you find this article useful?

Advertisement