 Professional Background
Yang Tongyan (pen name: Yang Tianshui) is a dissident writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center. He received a B.A. in History at Beijing Normal University in 1982 and has worked as a freelance writer, teacher, and office worker. He is known for his critical writings published on web sites such as Boxun.com and EpochTimes.com. His online publications include poems, essays, novels, short stories and memos, many of which were written while in prison.
Current Status
Yang Tongyan is currently serving a 12-year sentence for “subversion of state power.” He is being held in Nanjing Prison in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province. He has submitted a petition to the Supreme People’s Court to challenge the verdict. There are now mounting concerns for his health, as he has been hospitalized for at least 50 days with a fever. Yang is reportedly suffering from tuberculous intestinal inflammation and peritonitis, diabetes and nephritis, as well as arthritis and high blood pressure. |
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Case History
Yang spent a decade in prison from 1990 to 2000 on “counter-revolution” charges for his involvement in the 1989 pro-democracy protests. He was also held incommunicado from December 24, 2004 to January 25, 2005.
On December 23, 2005, Yang was detained without a warrant in Nanjing and held incommunicado at Dantu District Detention Centre in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. His family was not notified of his arrest or whereabouts until January 27, 2006, when they received formal notification dated January 20 from the Public Security Bureau of Zhenjiang City, east of Nanjing. He was convicted of subversion of state power for posting antigovernment articles on the Internet, organizing a branch of the (outlawed) China Democracy Party, participating in China’s Velvet Action Movement and being elected as a member of its “Interim Government of Democratic China,” and accepting illegal funds from overseas to transfer to jailed political dissidents and their families. On May 16, 2006, after a three-hour trial that was closed to the public, he was sentenced by the Zhenjiang Intermediate Court in eastern China’s Jiangsu province to 12 years’ imprisonment and four years’ deprivation of political rights.
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