Chen Ziming

Chen Ziming (8 January 1952 – 21 October 2014) and Wang Juntao were arrested in late 1989 for their involvement in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Chinese authorities alleged they were the “black hands” behind the movement. Both Chen and Wang rejected the allegations made against them. They were put on trial in 1990 and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Before their arrest for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Chen and Wang were arrested for their involvement in the 1976 protests marking the death of Zhou Enlai. They were released however, after Deng Xiaoping took power and reversed the verdict on the incident. Chen and Wang were also active in the Democracy Wall movement in 1978-1979. In 1985, they helped found the Beijing Social and Economic Sciences Research Institute.

In November or October 1989, Chen and Wang were arrested in Southern Guangdong while trying to make their way to Guangzhou. They were allegedly following an escape route set up by an unidentified Hong Kong activist who was also arrested. It is believed that Wang spent the months after June 4th hiding in the city of Wuhan while Chen went underground in Inner Mongolia. On November 24, 1990, Wang was formally charged with intent to overthrow the Communist government and dissemination of counterrevolutionary propaganda. Chen was similarly charged on November 26, 1990. Authorities claimed that the two were the alleged masterminds or “black hands” behind the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

On December 10, 1990, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, activists campaigned in support of Wang and Chen. One of the organizers, Wu Chunmeng, expressed concern that, with international attention focused on the Persian Gulf crisis, the fate of Chinese political prisoners would be overlooked.

According to the verdict in the Case of Chen Ziming, the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court concluded the following through “facts... attested to by witnesses’ testimony, by written evidence and by tape-recordings:”

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