Chinese dissident Liu Jingsheng was released from a Chinese prison recently. In an AFP interview, he said that he was still the same person, and his thinking had not changed.

Liu was released from jail two years early. Despite hypertension, heart and stomach problems, he said his condition is good, and he is fairly healthy.

Liu was involved in the 1978 “democracy wall” activity. In 1979, he and well-known Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng established Explore magazine. In 1991, they established the Chinese Freedom and Democracy Party and the Chinese Freedom Labor Union (along with Beijing Language Institute instructor Hu Shigen).

Chinese authorities arrested Liu in 1992. Two years later, the Beijing Intermediate People’s Court charged him with organizing and leading a counter-revolutionary group and instigating counter-revolutionary propaganda. The court sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment and suspended his political rights for four years.

Liu said that he is now an ordinary person who doesn’t have much ambition, but still cares about the Chinese people very much. He said his views haven’t changed. He didn’t say whether he would attend pro-democracy activities. Despite Liu’s release, his political rights remain suspended for four years.