China releases legal scholar after four years in jail

Calls to Xu's lawyer Zhang Qingfang went unanswered

China freed the most prominent dissident jailed under President Xi Jinping, drawing further attention to the country’s human-rights record amid an international outcry over the death of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo.

Xu Zhiyong, 44, founder of the New Citizens’ Movement, was released Saturday after completing a four-year prison sentence for gathering a crowd to disturb the public order, according to a statement on the Beijing Municipal Administration of Prisons website. The legal scholar was detained in July 2013 after calling for the release of fellow activists who’d urged top officials to disclose their assets.

The release had been expected and appeared unrelated