One of China’s most prominent dissidents, Hu Jia, was reunited with his family in the early hours of Sunday after serving three-and-a-half-years in jail on subversion charges, but he was not ready to speak in public, his wife said.

Hu was convicted in 2008 for “inciting subversion of state power” for criticizing human rights restrictions in China, and was seen by some supporters as a potential recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize before it went to another jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, last year.

“He is back home with his parents and me,” his wife, Zeng Jingyan, told Reuters in a brief telephone interview.

“I don’t know if he can speak later. At the moment, I want everything to be peaceful. I’m worried that doing interviews at this stage might cause problems. Please understand.”

She and other rights activists have voiced concern in the past that Chinese authorities might…