Luo Changsong, 43, a cadre in the Beijing Letters and Visits Office of the NPC originally from Chengdu, Sichuan Province, was detained on May 21, 1996, held in the State Security Bureau detention center in Beijing and formally arrested ten days later. Luo was sentenced on November 11, 1996, to six years in prison for "counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement." The court's verdict states that in 1992 Luo Changsong wrote "A Manifesto on Peaceful Evolution" declaring that the Four Basic Principles should be changed to Democracy, Freedom, Equality and Fraternity, and called for the launching of a "Peaceful Evolution" movement. The verdict found Luo Changsong guilty of sending his manifesto and other essays to "people and organizations outside of the mainland" The verdict concluded that Luo Changsong's actions represented "a plot to subvert the people's democratic dictatorship and the socialist system" and constituted "a major crime posing a grave threat to society which must be punished severely." Luo Chan

gsong appealed against his sentence, but the court rejected his appeal on December 12, 1996, without a hearing. (Sources: Human Rights in China - New York)