Liu Zhihua / 刘智华
Classification: former political prisoner; 1989 Hunan worker protest participant.
Liu Zhihua was a 21-year-old worker at the Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Factory in Hunan in 1989. Human-rights documentation places him among four factory workers punished following protests connected to the June 1989 Beijing crackdown.
Case and sentence
The Dui Hua Foundation identifies Liu Zhihua as one of the Xiangtan factory workers convicted of hooliganism. He received a life sentence. Dui Hua later reported that the sentences of the four workers were reduced over time.
Release
Dui Hua reported Liu Zhihua’s release in May 2009, describing him as the last Tiananmen-era “hooligan” in this group to leave prison. This supports classification as a former political prisoner. No post-release residence, occupation or organizational affiliation is inferred from the release record.
Related people
Chen Gang, Peng Shi and Liu Jian were fellow Xiangtan Electrical Machinery Factory workers linked to the same 1989 incident. Chen Ding, Chen Gang’s younger brother, was sentenced separately on a different case theory.
Evidence status
Human Rights in China attests Liu Zhihua’s factory-worker identity and age; Dui Hua independently confirms the hooliganism conviction, life sentence and May 2009 release. Post-release whereabouts remain unresolved.
Media archive: Liu Zhihua / 刘智华 — Media Profile & Archive.