Chinese dissident artist Ai WeiWei has been released on bail, according to CNN. WeiWei is the designer of the Beijing Olympic Bird’s Nest Stadium. Ai WeiWei has always been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics because, he said, the Chinese government was using the Games for propaganda purposes.
He was arrested on the 23rd of April as he was waiting to board a plane for Hong Kong .
WeiWei was held without seeing his family until the 15th of May when his wife was permitted to visit him. The Chinese authorities also raided his offices and held his wife and several associates in custody for some time after his arrest.
The international community says his arrest was part of the Chinese crackdown on dissidents that occurred soon after the Arab Spring uprisings started. It was widely thought that China was moving pre-emptorily to prevent such an uprising in China.
The Chinese government’s position is that WeiWei's arrest has nothing to do with his criticism of the state, but is a result of his failure to pay sufficient taxes. He is accused of evading “a huge amount” of taxes.
At least Ai WeiWei is out of prison for the time being, but a trial will surely follow. It will also surely follow the format laid out by Russia
You can read my blog of 28 December 2010, “The horror of the Khodorkovsky Trial,” to have an idea what is probably coming for Ai WeiWei and how it will unfold and play out.
Tax evasion seems to be the new gadget being used by dictatorial regimes to prevent free speech and clamp down hard on dissidents, while seeming to be marching in the footsteps of democratic nations - because tax evasion is a Western concept. Do not be fooled.
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