(AP) BEIJING – Renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was released on bail Wednesday after confessing to tax evasion following more than three months in detention, official media said.
Ai’s poor health was also a factor in his release, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
It said Ai had shown a “good attitude in confessing his crimes” and repeatedly pledged to pay taxes he owed.
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Xinhua repeated earlier allegations in state media that a company linked to Ai, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., had evaded a “huge amount” of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents.
Ai’s family and supporters have previously dismissed similar accusations, and his wife, Lu Qing, says the company in question is registered and belongs to her, not him. The company handles the business aspects of Ai’s art career.
Ai is among China’s most internationally known artists and had a hand in designing Beijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium before souring on the event. His fame has soared in recent years, both for his groundbreaking art and his bold irreverence toward authority.
Ai’s detention at Beijing’s airport on April 3 made him the most famous victim of a sweeping crackdown against dissent in China that began in February when online calls for protests similar to those in the Middle East and North Africa began to circulate. Hundreds of Chinese lawyers, activists, and other intellectuals have disappeared or been questioned or detained by authorities in the clampdown.
Ai had been keeping an informal tally of the detentions on Twitter.
Ai was held under a form of detention known as residential surveillance somewhere outside Beijing. His wife was permitted one brief, monitored meeting in which she said he seemed well cared for and was not being held in a formal jail.
Ai’s detention prompted an international outcry among artists, politicians and human rights activists, and Western leaders called it a sign of China’s deteriorating human rights situation. His family and supporters said he was being punished for speaking out about the Communist leadership and social problems.