Yao Fuxin / 姚福信
Classification: Democracy and labor activist; former political prisoner.
Yao Fuxin’s record spans late-1990s democracy activism and the major Liaoyang labor protests of 2002. Source-controlled research places him in the 1998–1999 relay hunger-strike movement and later at the center of worker organizing in Liaoning. Independent reporting from the Washington Post, South China Morning Post, Amnesty International, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and international labor-rights organizations supports the principal custody chronology.
Liaoyang labor case
Yao was detained in March 2002 after labor protests in Liaoyang. He was sentenced on May 9, 2003 to seven years on a subversion charge, and his appeal was reported upheld in June 2003. His release on March 16, 2009 is independently reported.
Evidence controls
Prosecution allegations about organization membership remain attributed rather than treated as uncontested fact. Primary research targets include the original hunger-strike roster, judgment and appeal records, prison and release certificate, and labor-union organizing records.
Custody status: FORMER — RELEASED. Detained March 2002; seven-year sentence imposed May 9, 2003; release reported March 16, 2009.
This profile preserves the distinction between independently established chronology and allegations contained in prosecution materials.