Despite claims of preferential treatment during his three years in a labour camp, Shanghai dissident Bao Ge has vowed to protest against his imprisonment.
'They knew I had been appealing against my sentence all the time I was in jail. They were afraid that after I was freed i'd tell people about physical abuse,' Mr Bao, 33, said.
The prison guards were ordered not to scold or beat him, and he was made to work eight hours a day compared with the longer hours of other inmates. Mr Bao had at one stage worked for up to 15 hours a day.
'Other prisoners had to wake up while it was still dark, at about three or four in the morning, and often had to work until after midnight,' Mr Bao said.
'Sometimes the guards even made the inmates work through the night, for 30 or 40 hours straight. They would only be allowed three or four hours' sleep.
'We were paid only about 15 yuan [HK$14] per month. And that was only since March. Before that there was no pay at all,' he said.
Mr Bao confirmed he intended to appeal to judicial authorities to overturn his conviction.
