Sun Liyong (孫立勇), a former Beijing police officer, was arrested in 1990 for criticizing the government’s Tiananmen response. He spent seven years in prison with Zhang and about 150 other so-called “June 4 thugs,” and recorded his experiences in an unpublished memoir titled Crossing Ice Mountain.
An excerpt shared by e-mail describes how he spent 183 days in solitary confinement, his hands and feet shackled and linked by a chain, only able to eat like a dog, with his face in the plate.
Now living in Sydney, Australia, where he works for a moving company, Sun has established a fund for former Tiananmen prisoners. He sends US$450 to them when they first get out and more when he is able. He has also compiled case files for dozens of them, documenting their financial and health problems.
One of them describes how Sun Chuanheng (孫傳恆), released in 2006 after serving 18 years for setting two military trucks on fire, tried unsuccessfully to work as a newspaper delivery man and a door to door salesman.
Now he scrapes by earning US$88 a month at a friend’s hardware store, eating one meal a day. He could not be interviewed due to the terms of his parole.
Neither could Zhang Maosheng (張茂盛), who served 18 years for burning an army truck. He told Sun Liyong that he sometimes goes to a soup kitchen and has been so ashamed of his life outside that he wished he were back in prison.
Most of the former prisoners need medical attention for eye problems, high blood pressure, back trouble and other ailments but they can’t afford it, Sun said.
China’s Ministry of Justice did not immediately respond to faxed questions about the Tiananmen prisoners.
Last June, the US State Department said there were still an estimated 50 to 200 Tiananmen prisoners serving time in Chinese jails, and urged China to release them all.
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