* Liu Nianchun, 48, a former factory worker and novelist, was sentenced to three years' RTL on July 4, 1996. Shortly after helping to initiate the pro-democracy petition "Draw Lessons from Blood" and signing another petition calling for "a spirit of tolerance in China's political life," Liu was seized at his home without a warrant on May 21, 1995. He was held incommunicado until his RTL sentence was announced. Liu attempted to sue the PSB and the RTL Commission but his application was rebuffed on various technicalities until the court finally heard the case on September 17, 1996. Three months later the Beijing Chaoyang District Court announced its verdict rejecting Liu's suit, offering an argument based on state security: "[Citizens] must not engage in actions endangering national security, honor, or interests. Plaintiff Liu Nianchun... has engaged in activities which exceed constitutional and legal limits." In January 1997 Liu filed an appeal against this decision with the Beijing No.2 Intermediate Court. L

iu previously spent three years in prison for "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement" after participating in the Democracy Wall movement of the late 1970s. In 1993 he helped draft the Peace Charter, and in 1994 he spent five months in detention without charge for attempting to establish the League for the Protection of the Rights of the Working People. Liu is currently held in the Shuanghe labor camp in Heilongjiang Province. His period of incommunicado detention has not been counted as time served contrary to normal practice. In May 1997, Liu Nianchun had his sentence extended for allegedly "refusing to reform himself." He was ordered to serve an additional six days for each month of his total sentence, in his case 216 days. (Sources: Human Rights in China - New York)