He Depu (Chinese: 何德普; pinyin: Hé Dépǔ; born 28 October 1956) is a dissident in the People's Republic of China.

Biography

He was employed at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. Political activist who took part in the Democracy Wall movement, he was founder of Beijing Youth magazine in 1979.

In 1998, he helped found the proscribed China Democracy Party, but lost his job at the Social Sciences Academy after standing as a candidate in local elections in 1990.[citation needed]

He Depu was tried in a two-hour hearing on 14 October 2002 for his links to the outlawed China Democracy Party, of which he is a member, and for posting essays on the Internet that "incited subversion."[1]

He was one of the 192 signatories[2] of an open letter to the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2002.

On 4 November 2002, he was arrested,[3] and received an eight-year sentence for dissident activity on the Internet on 6 November 2003.[4]

In 2008, while in Beijing No. 2 Prison, his health began to deteriorate. He suffered from high blood pressure and did not receive appropriate treatment.[5] In August 2008 he sent a letter to International Olympic Committee head Jacques Rogge, decrying the conditions in Chinese prisons, which he claims to have worsened.[6]

He Depu was released from prison on 24 January 2011. The day of his release he was beaten by four police officers.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Reporters Without Borders concerned about health of cyberdissident He Depu". Reporters sans frontiers. 2 March 2004. Archived from the original on 2 May 2005.
  2. ^ "Cyberdissident Ouyang Yi released at the end of his sentence". Reporters sans frontiers. 7 December 2004. Archived from the original on 24 November 2006.
  3. ^ "Call for clemency for dissident He Depu". Reporters sans frontiers. 15 October 2003. Archived from the original on 29 June 2006.
  4. ^ "Cyber-dissident He Depu begins third year in prison". Reporters sans frontiers. 4 November 2004. Archived from the original on 27 November 2005.
  5. ^ HRIC Case Update: Health at Risk for Jailed Democracy Activist He Depu Archived 26 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Human Rights in China
  6. ^ "Chinese prisons have worsened, dissident tells IOC chief". Archived from the original on 7 July 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
  7. ^ "Released after Eight-Year Prison Term, Activist He Depu Is Beaten by Police, Describes Torture". Human Rights in China. 24 January 2011.
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