(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN is welcoming the release of poet Xue Deyun (pen-name Ma Zhe), who had served three-and-a-half years of a five-year sentence for his underground literary activities. According to WiPC’s information, Xue was released on 25 July 2001 after Guizhou’s High Court reduced his sentence on appeal. Poet Xue Deyun, […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN is welcoming the release of poet Xue Deyun (pen-name Ma Zhe), who had served three-and-a-half years of a five-year sentence for his underground literary activities. According to WiPC’s information, Xue was released on 25 July 2001 after Guizhou’s High Court reduced his sentence on appeal.
Poet Xue Deyun, from Guizhou Province in South West China, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on 1 March 2000 for his anti-establishment literary activities. He was convicted at Guiyang Municipal People’s Court of “engaging in subversive activities,” violating “Article 105.2 of the Chinese Penal Code,” and attempting to overthrow “the socialist system by rumour-mongering [or] slander.” The charges are believed to relate to his involvement with the underground cultural revival movement, Chinese Cultural Renaissance, and the production of the group’s journal, Chinese Cultural Renaissance Bulletin. Xue Deyun is believed to be a founding member of the Chinese Cultural Renaissance Movement, which is based in Guizhou Province and also has a branch in Shanghai.
Xue Deyun was arrested on 26 January 1998 with three other poets, Ma Qiang, Wu Ruohai and Xiong Jinren (later released), as they were preparing to launch an unofficial literary journal supporting literary freedoms entitled China Cultural Renaissance Bulletin.
