He Depu
{{Short description|Chinese dissident (born 1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{family name hatnote|He|lang=Chinese}}
He Depu ({{zh|c=何德普|p=Hé Dépǔ}}; born 28 October 1956) is a dissident in the People's Republic of China.
Biography
He was employed at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. Political activist who took part in the Democracy Wall movement, he was founder of Beijing Youth magazine in 1979.{{cn|date=August 2024}}
In 1998, he helped found the proscribed China Democracy Party, but lost his job at the Social Sciences Academy after standing as a candidate in local elections in 1990.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}}
He Depu was tried in a two-hour hearing on 14 October 2002 for his links to the outlawed China Democracy Party, of which he is a member, and for posting essays on the Internet that "incited subversion."{{cite news | url = http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8475 | title = Reporters Without Borders concerned about health of cyberdissident He Depu | date = 2 March 2004 | publisher = Reporters sans frontiers | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20050502200247/http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8475 | archivedate = 2 May 2005}}
He was one of the 192 signatories of an Open Letter to the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2002.{{cite news |date=7 December 2004 |title=Cyberdissident Ouyang Yi released at the end of his sentence |url=http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12035 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124040941/http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12035 |archivedate=24 November 2006 |publisher=Reporters sans frontiers}}
On 4 November 2002, he was arrested,{{cite news | url = http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8244 | title = Call for clemency for dissident He Depu | date = 15 October 2003 | publisher = Reporters sans frontiers | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060629205217/http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=8244 | archivedate = 29 June 2006}} and received an eight-year sentence for dissident activity on the Internet on 6 November 2003.{{cite news | url = http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=11775 | title = Cyber-dissident He Depu begins third year in prison | date = 4 November 2004 | publisher = Reporters sans frontiers | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20051127034335/http://www.rsf.org/print.php3?id_article=11775 | archivedate = 27 November 2005}}
In 2008, while in Beijing No. 2 Prison, his health began to deteriorate. He suffered from high blood pressure and did not receive appropriate treatment.[http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5fid=48320&item%5fid=48281 HRIC Case Update: Health at Risk for Jailed Democracy Activist He Depu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080426070701/http://hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5Fid=48320&item%5Fid=48281 |date=26 April 2008 }}, Human Rights in China In August 2008 he sent a letter to International Olympic Committee head Jacques Rogge, decrying the conditions in Chinese prisons, which he claims to have worsened.{{cite web |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPIuAAmXGpvbqgSuPs2CdFiV7knw |title=Chinese prisons have worsened, dissident tells IOC chief |accessdate=2008-08-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707200527/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPIuAAmXGpvbqgSuPs2CdFiV7knw |archivedate=7 July 2009}}
He Depu was released from prison on 24 January 2011. The day of his release he was beaten by four police officers.{{cite web |title=Released after Eight-Year Prison Term, Activist He Depu Is Beaten by Police, Describes Torture |url=https://www.hrichina.org/en/content/4888 |website=Human Rights in China |date=24 January 2011}}