THE LEGACY OF TIANANMEN: 20 YEARS OF OPPRESSION, ACTIVISM AND HOPE CHRD Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) Web: Hhttp://crd-net.org/H Email:
[email protected] THE LEGACY OF TIANANMEN: 20 YEARS OF OPPRESSION, ACTIVISM AND HOPE Chinese Human Rights Defenders June 1, 2009 Twenty years since the Tiananmen massacre, the Chinese government refuses to accept responsibility, much less apologize or offer compensation, for killing, injuring, imprisoning and persecuting individuals for participating in peaceful protests. The number of the victims, and their names and identities, remain unknown. Families continue to be barred from publicly commemorating and seeking accountability for the death of their loved ones. Activists are persecuted and harassed for independently investigating the crackdown or for calling for a rectification of the government’s verdict on the pro‐democracy movement. Many individuals continue to suffer the consequences of participating in the pro‐democracy movement today. At least eight individuals remain imprisoned in Beijing following unfair trials in which they were convicted of committing “violent crimes”. Those who were released after long sentences have had difficulty re‐integrating into society as they suffer from continued police harassment as well as illnesses and injuries resulting from torture, beatings and mistreatment while in prison. Many of those injured have had to pay for their own medical expenses and continue to struggle as the physical and psychological scars leave them unable to take care of themselves or to work. Some who took part in the protests still find it difficult to make ends meet after they were dismissed from comfortable jobs or expelled from universities after 1989.