Journalist who defaced Mao's portrait freed after 16 years

A Hunan journalist jailed for throwing paint-filled eggs at the Tiananmen Square portrait of Mao Zedong in 1989 was released yesterday.

Yu Dongyue, 39, was reportedly tortured and suffered a mental breakdown in prison. He was collected from a prison in Yuanjiang city in Hunan by his brother, Yu Xiyue, 33, who was only notified of the pending release on Tuesday.

Yu Dongyue, a journalist and art critic with Hunan's Liuyang News, was jailed in June 1989 for 20 years for 'counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement' after he and two friends defaced the portrait the previous May. In 2000, he received a two-year sentence reduction and a 15-month reduction in 2003.

His co-accused, Lu Decheng , 43, a bus driver, received a 16-year term and was released early in 1998, while high school teacher Yu Zhijian , 43, was given a life sentence but released in 2000. It is not clear why Yu Dongyue was kept in jail after Yu Zhijian, who is not a blood relative, was released.

Asked if Yu Dongyue was able to speak to the press, Yu Xiyue said he was not sure if his brother could manage it. 'He didn't seem to recognise me. When I called him 'brother', he did not respond,' Yu Xiyue said.

'I talked to him, but his responses were incomprehensible. I didn't understand what he said. It was not Putonghua, or the home town [Hunan] dialect, or English. He was just smiling at everyone.'

He said that although Yu Dongyue looked physically normal, he had put on weight. 'As long as he is still alive, it is good. If he has illnesses, we can cure him,' he said, adding Yu Dongyue would be taken to hospital for a checkup after settling him down.