Chinese authorities have proposed an unofficial payoff to a family bereaved by the military crackdown that followed the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, according to a group representing the victims.
In a statement released just before the 22nd anniversary of the deadly crackdown on 4 June, the Tiananmen Mothers said security forces had privately approached one of their members to discuss an individual payoff.
But the member rejected the proposal – discussed during two visits in February and April – because it was secretive and made no mention of an investigation, apology or public accounting for what happened.
"This year, the silence was finally broken. This should have been welcome. But what in fact does this belated response mean?" asked the 127 members of the group who signed the statement. "The visitors did not speak of making the truth public, carrying out judicial investigations, or providing an explanation for the case of each victim. Instead, they only raised the question of how much to pay, emphasising that this was meant for that individual case and not for the families in the group as a whole."
The group said they had documented the cases of 203 people who were shot, beaten or crushed to death by People's Liberation Army tanks in the wake of the 1989 protests. Many other victims remained unidentified, they said.
The government tightly restricts discussion of the demonstrations – which spread to several cities – or the murderous crackdown that followed, except occasionally to justify the actions as necessary to prevent political turmoil.
Given the government's stance, direct public compensation for victims' families is highly unlikely, but several senior cadres have called for a re-evaluation of the protests and a recognition that the students and workers were not involved in a counter-revolutionary plot. There have been reports of unofficial payoffs.
In 2005, Tang Deying – the mother of a student killed in police custody in Chengdu soon after the 1989 protests – was given 70,000 yuan (£6,850) in "hardship assistance" by local officials, according to a local activist, Huang Qi.
Overseas lawyers and human rights activists said the government's latest approach to the Tiananmen Mothers was unlikely to signal a change of policy.
"We know the communist party has tried to get people to remain silent on this issue by using carrots as well as sticks," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch. "I doubt that this will lead to acknowledgement of government responsibility, though the fact that the Tiananmen Mothers are not in jail is an unspoken recognition of the legitimacy of their case."
Others expressed surprised that the approach came while China is in the midst of the tightest clampdown on dissent since 1989.
"Why now?" asked Joshua Rosenzweig of the Dui Hua foundation, which supports political prisoners. "It seems an unlikely moment for the state – even in this limited way – to address this legacy."