Liu Xin (刘新) was a worker from Shaoyang, Hunan, imprisoned during the post-June 1989 crackdown. Amnesty International documentation records that he received a 15-year sentence for arson in September 1989 from the Shaoyang City Intermediate People’s Court and was held at Longxi Prison.
Case record
Available documentation links Liu Xin to an incident in which matches he supplied were used to burn a vehicle during the unrest surrounding the 1989 movement. The court imposed a 15-year prison term for arson. Amnesty International’s 1999 political-prisoner documentation listed his expected release as June 2004.
An expected release date is not the same as a verified release. No actual June 2004 release, later residence, or present status is inferred from that projected date.
Identity correction
The 15-year Shaoyang arson sentence belongs to Liu Xin. It should not be attributed to Yao Guisheng (姚贵生), for whom the evidence reviewed has not established this sentence.
Evidence status
Sentence, court and prison: supported by Amnesty International and corroborating Hunan case documentation. Current status: unknown. Release confirmation and post-sentence biography remain unresolved.
Sources
Amnesty International, ASA 17/07/99 (May 1999), political-prisoner documentation, pp. 17–18; corroborating Hunan 1989 case synthesis citing contemporary or near-contemporary reporting.