In March 2002, Xiao Yunliang, a former worker at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy Factory, Liaoning Province, and another local worker,Yao Fuxin 姚福信, led around 2,000 workers from the same factory, along with a further 15,000 workers from five other factories in Liaoyang, in a series of major public demonstrations. The workers were protesting against alleged corruption in the factory – which they argued had directly caused its recent bankruptcy – and called for unpaid wages and other owed benefits, including pensions, to be paid to the workers. Xiao was secretly detained on 20 March 2002 and then formally charged with the crime of "illegal assembly and demonstration." Subsequently, on account of his alleged involvement in the banned China Democracy Party (CDP) – he has consistently denied such involvement – the charge of "subversion" was brought against him. Tried at the Liaoyang Intermediate People’s Court on 15 January 2003, Xiao was sentenced to four years in prison and will be due for release in March 2006. Like his fellow prisoner Yao Fuxin, he has been plagued by serious health problems throughout his imprisonment.
June 2005
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