Chinese police reject foul play claims over dissident suicide

Suspicion surrounds death of Tiananmen Square veteran Li Wangyang, who was found hanged in hospital room last month
Protesters wear T-shirts with pictures of Li Wangyang during a pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong.
Protesters wear T-shirts with pictures of Li Wangyang during a pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong. Photograph: Vincent Yu/AP

Police say a veteran activist found hanging in his hospital room killed himself, dismissing allegations of foul play from his family and colleagues who had used his death as a symbol of China's repression of government critics.

Li Wangyang died last month in central China, where his promotion of workers' rights had led to him being sentenced to more than 20 years of prison or hard labour.

Investigators found Li's fingerprints on the hospital window bar from which he was found hanging, according to a police report released through the Hong Kong China News Agency on Thursday. It said an autopsy concluded Li's injuries were consistent with suicide and found no signs of bruising, organ damage or other evidence of struggle.

People seen in hospital surveillance footage from the hall outside his room around the time of his death were all staff or other patients' visitors, said the Hunan public security bureau report.

Relatives say the 62-year-old activist never talked about killing himself despite being very sick from heart disease and diabetes. Supporters say it was suspicious Li was found hanging by his neck even though his feet touched the ground.

Li's brother-in-law, Zhao Baozhu, said last month the activist had never expressed a desire to hurt himself and had appeared normal over dinner the night before he died.

Li had advocated independent trade unions in Hunan province and was caught in the nationwide crackdown on all forms of dissent after the Tiananmen Square democracy protests were quelled in 1989.

He was convicted of "counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement" and spent much of his 11-year sentence doing hard labour. At times, he was held in solitary confinement and beaten so badly he had to be hospitalised, according to Human Rights in China.

Li was subsequently sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for inciting subversion after demanding government help for health problems caused by beatings and mistreatment in prison. His death came two days after the 23rd anniversary of the 4 June Tiananmen crackdown and shortly before the 15th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Beijing's control.

Activists in the semiautonomous territory rallied strongly around Li's death, seeing him as a symbol of Chinese repression and a warning against allowing China to erode Hong Kong's civil liberties. Hong Kong supporters wrote letters to the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, demanding a thorough investigation into Li's death.