China releases legal scholar after four years in jail

China freed the most prominent dissident jailed under President Xi Jinping, drawing further attention to the country’s human-rights record amid an international outcry over the death of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo.

Xu Zhiyong, 44, founder of the New Citizens’ Movement, was released Saturday after completing a four-year prison sentence for gathering a crowd to disturb the public order, according to a statement on the Beijing Municipal Administration of Prisons website. The legal scholar was detained in July 2013 after calling for the release of fellow activists who’d urged top officials to disclose their assets.

The release had been expected and appeared unrelated to criticism over the treatment of Liu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who died on Thursday under guard from complications related to cancer. Xu was among the first wave of activists rounded up in 2013 after Xi became president and accelerated efforts to curb criticism of the Communist Party. He was met on his release by his family. Calls to Xu’s lawyer Zhang Qingfang went unanswered. 

The loosely knit New Citizens’ Movement drew authorities’ ire even though they backed policies that appeared to be in line with Xi’s campaign against corruption.