Lin Mu, regarded by Chinese liberal intellectuals as one of the nation’s pro-democracy pioneers, died suddenly at his home at the age of 79, his family said on Monday.
His son said Lin, the former secretary of liberal Chinese leader Hu Yaobang, went for a nap on Sunday morning after reporting feeling unwell and never woke up.
”He had always been very healthy … so it was a bit of a shock,” Lin Fang said.
Lin Mu was a veteran Communist Party member who served in a number of official posts, including as secretary to Hu, whose death triggered the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement in 1989.
He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Tiananmen movement, which was infamously crushed by the Chinese military, and he was stripped of his party membership as a result. He never again worked for the communist regime.
Lin’s friends and supporters called him a ”pro-democracy pioneer” and said his death was a shock as they were looking forward to celebrating his 80th birthday with him this month, according to Shanghai-based dissident Li Guotao.
”In order to fulfill his dreams and to carry on his unfinished tasks, friends, let’s use our grief … to build a free, democratic, constitutional … China,” said Li in a eulogy to Lin.
In 2002, Lin published an open letter through the New York-based Human Rights in China organisation, urging the Communist Party to release all prisoners of conscience and to embrace democracy and rule of law.
”He worked very hard towards his goals — even in his old age, he never stopped,” his son said. – Sapa-AFP