A dissident writer who spent five years in a Chinese jail was released on Tuesday. Talking to Associated Press, Yang Maodong said he had been wrongly imprisoned and subjected to ill-treatment “beyond people’s imagination.” Yang said the charges of alleged illegal business activities for which he was jailed were trumped up and that his jailers only questioned him about his pro-democracy activities, not business matters. Yang was arrested in September 2006 and sentenced in November 2007. His prosecution is believed to relate to a publication entitled Shenyang Political Earthquake, which exposed government corruption in Shenyang, Liaoning province.