Political Dissidents Fight for Release of Tiananmen Square Hero

NEW YORK – At a press conference in lower Manhattan, twenty years after the horror of Tiananmen Square, Chinese dissidents met to discuss the imprisonment of one of their heroes, Tiananmen Square leader Zhou Yonjun, by the Chinese government.
Zhang Yuwei’s child was five months old when her fiancé disappeared almost a year ago. A political protestor living in forced exile in Los Angeles, CA, Zhou Yonjun was visiting his ailing parents in China when he was arrested by authorities and placed in a prison in his hometown of Shenzhen. Originally, the charge against him was espionage. Later, it was changed to financial fraud. Members of the China Support Network, a group of people who are fighting for democracy and freedom in their homeland, believe that ‘Major Zhou’ is being held as a political prisoner.
Zhou is a hero among Chinese freedom fighters. He led the first student march into Tiananmen Square in 1989. And as the leader of the Student Unions of Beijing Universities, he acted as the voice of the students during the response to the “June 4th Episode,” as the day when the government opened fire on student demonstrators in Tiananmen Square is referred to in China. Twenty years later, he has been arrested and is being held in a Chinese prison for the third time since 1989. The first was directly after the event, from 1989 to 1991. The second was in 2001.
“The capture of Zhou is proof that Tiananmen Square political persecution is carried on into the present day,” said John Kusumi, founder of the China Support Network. “Major Zhou is a political prisoner; not a criminal.”
Li Jinjin, attorney and chair of China’s Judicial Watch, agrees.
“There is no legal basis for this case,” the Nassau County, N.Y. resident said. “Why is [China] so interested in pursuing a permanent resident of the US? The answer is political persecution. The Chinese government sees Zhou as a threat because he is a political dissident who has continuously promoted a democratic China.”
Ye Ning, 58, of Queens, N.Y., is a criminal defense attorney who is involved with many international cases. He has been in the US for “20 some-odd years” and has no intention of returning to China because he believes that the Chinese government has gotten even worse in terms of human rights issues since the atrocities of Tiananmen Square.
“Now they have very sophisticated computer systems and technology to overlook and monitor dissidents and religious activities,” he said. “The human rights abuse has been accelerated because the Chinese government is too smart and sophisticated.” Ning refers to himself as an “armchair revolutionary,” one who talks and writes, but does not make his thoughts into action.
“Major Zhou is not this type of person,” he said. “He puts his ideals into action.” According to Ning, this is why the Chinese government still views him as a threat 20 years after Tiananmen Square, and why they keep locking him up every chance they get. They do it to “silence and neutralize him in order to stop him from causing further troubles,” he said. Ning believes that it is up to the international community to put pressure on the Chinese government to release Zhou.
“If this case is allowed to pass under the international community, other cases will come,” he said. “We are here to call for international awareness of this most serious development.”
John Kusumi agrees. “President Obama is going for his first visit to China to meet the Dalai Lama,” he said. “We hope he carries our concerns with him.”
Zhang Yuewie, Zhou’s fiancé, has been living in Los Angeles, CA for the past four years and has no interest in returning to China because “the government is always trying to control people’s heads…[and] they’re still angry at him from Tiananmen Square” she said. “They still think he’s a threat. What is wrong with supporting democracy and freedom? There is nothing wrong with it. We are looking forward to his return to this country – to freedom.”