China has released Hu Jia, an activist who was once a contender for the Nobel peace prize, after he served more than three years in jail on subversion charges.

　　因“煽动颠覆国家政权罪”入狱的中国异议人士胡佳，在服刑3年多后获释。胡佳此前曾获得诺贝尔和平奖提名。

　　Unlike the surprise release of artist Ai Weiwei last week, Mr Hu’s exit from prison had been scheduled. But his freedom is expected to remain restricted under a form of house arrest that China has used to muzzle other critics upon release.

　　胡佳此次为刑满释放，因此不像艾未未上周获释那样令人惊讶。不过，估计胡佳的个人自由仍会受到某种软禁形式的限制。在其他异议人士获释后，中国政府常常以这种方式限制其言论自由。

　　A tireless campaigner for Aids victims and the environment, Mr Hu won the European Union’s top human rights honour, the Sakharov prize, in 2008 and had also been seen as a potential Nobel peace prize laureate.

　　由于为艾滋病患者和环境保护问题不知疲倦地奔走，胡佳在2008年获得了欧盟(EU)最高人权荣誉——“萨哈罗夫奖”，并曾有望获得诺贝尔和平奖。

　　He was jailed just months before Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2008 on accusations that he was planning sabotage. He had written articles saying that the government would use the games as a lavish celebration to mask rampant rights abuses and corruption.

　　在2008年北京举办奥运会之前几个月，胡佳因被指控策划破坏活动而遭到囚禁。他曾撰文指出，政府将把奥运会当作一场奢侈的庆典，以掩盖猖獗的人权及腐败问题。

　　Mr Hu returned to his Beijing home, an apartment complex called Bobo Freedom City, early on Sunday.

　　胡佳已于周日早间回到北京家中，他所居住的住宅小区名为“BOBO自由城”。

　　"On a sleepless night, Hu Jia came home at 2:30 am. Peaceful. Very happy. Needs some time to recuperate," Zeng Jinyan, Hu’s wife, wrote on her Twitter account.

　　胡佳的妻子曾金燕在自己的Twitter帐号上写道：“不眠之夜，两点半胡佳到家。平安，很开心。需要休养一段时间。”

　　Under his sentence, Mr Hu will not be allowed to speak to media for another year. The bail conditions imposed on Mr Ai also prevent him from giving interviews or publishing comments online.

　　按照判决，胡佳在未来一年内仍不得接受媒体采访。艾未未取保候审的条件中，也包括禁止他接受采访或在网上发表评论。

　　Ahead of Mr Hu’s release, Human Rights Watch appealed to the Chinese government not to subject him to house arrest.

　　胡佳获释前，人权观察组织(Human Rights Watch)曾呼吁中国政府不要对他实施软禁。

　　"For Chinese human rights activists, prison is only one way of losing one’s freedom," Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of the rights group, said in a statement. “House arrest, restrictions on movements, and enforced disappearances are often what awaits them upon release.”

　　“对中国维权人士而言，入狱不过是失去个人自由的一种形式，”人权观察组织亚洲促进主任索菲?理查森(Sophie Richardson)在一份声明中说。“他们出狱后往往还会遭遇软禁、行动受限以及强迫失踪。”

　　Over the past few days, China has also released four associates of Mr Ai who had disappeared after the famous artist was arrested in April, according to Amnesty International.

　　大赦国际(Amnesty International)透露，过去几天，中国政府还释放了艾未未的四位助手，他们是4月份艾未未被捕后失踪的。

　　Dozens of Chinese dissidents have been detained or gone missing this year after anonymous calls on the internet for an uprising in China like the protests sweeping the Arab world. Human rights groups say that more than 130 lawyers, activists and bloggers have been targeted, making it the most intense period of repression in China since the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989.

　　今年早些时候，互联网上出现了匿名号召，呼吁在中国发起与“阿拉伯之春”类似的抗议活动，此后已有数十位中国异见人士被拘或失踪。人权团体称，已有超过130名律师、维权人士和博主成为目标。这是自1989年天安门事件以来，中国压制异见最密集的一个时期。

　　The releases of Mr Hu and Mr Ai came as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Europe for four days of mainly economic discussions, promising to support Europe by buying more government debt and expanding trade ties.

　　胡佳和艾未未获释，恰逢中国总理温家宝对欧洲展开为期四天的访问。温家宝此次访问重点将讨论经济问题，承诺通过购买更多政府债券、扩大贸易合作来支持欧洲。