Man sentenced five years for speaking out against Olympics

Yang Chunlin, after speaking out in favor of human rights over the Olympic Games, was sentenced to five years in jail, charged with inciting subversion, Reuters reported Monday.

Mr. Chunlin was jailed because he had posted his essays, which speak out against China’s parliament, its Communist Party, and Communism as a whole, on the Internet. Mr. Chunlin has declared that he is innocent because he was utilizing his freedom of speech and publication. His sister, Yang Chunping said her brother believes there is no point in appealing to the courts.

He had also worked with nearby villagers to issue a petition last year against the Olympics because of a land dispute. The petition stated, “We don’t want the Olympics, we want human rights.”

China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, however, declared it impossible that Mr. Chunlin was arrested because of his essays. “Ask 10 people from the street to face public security officers and ask them to say ‘human rights are more important than the Olympics’ 10 times or even 100 times, and I will see which security officer would put him in jail.”

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