Official Jailed for Role in ’89 Protest Released

Bao Tong, the most senior Chinese official jailed after the 1989 pro-democracy protests, has been released into the custody of his family after nearly a year under house arrest, relatives said. Bao, former aide to disgraced Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, was released in May 1996 after serving seven years in prison for his role in the 1989 protests and was immediately placed under house arrest in a Beijing suburb. He and his family moved into a new Beijing apartment last weekend after the family agreed to leave its government residence.