Death of Li Wangyang

Li Wangyang (Chinese李旺阳/李旺阳, Pinyin lǐ Wangyang; * 1950 in Hunan Province, † June 6, 2012 in Shaoyang, Hunan Province) was a Chinese dissident and civil rights.

Li Wangyang was considered an important representative of the workers' rights in China and labor leaders and sympathizers of the student movement of 1989. The Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, he was arrested and sentenced by a court to 13 years in prison. Shortly before the expiration of the penalty, he was convicted again in 2001 to a prison for 10 years.

In 2011, he was released after 22 years in prison. In June 2012, he allegedly died by suicide in a hospital in Beijing; the circumstances of death are unknown. Mass protests over 150,000 people in Hong Kong followed after his death.