Chinese activist sentenced to 10 years jail for inciting subversion

Another rights activist jailed in China for criticizing Communist Party
Herald Globe
Monday 26th December, 2011??

?????Activist Chen Xi jailed for writing 36 essays criticizing the Communist Party
?????Chen told the court he will not appeal verdict
?????Chen was involved in 1989 Tiananmen protest

BEIJING- A veteran Chinese activist who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen uprising was sentenced Monday to 10 years prison for inciting subversion, his wife said. The sentencing comes three days after another activist was imprisoned for the same offence.

Chen Xi was found guilty of the charge of "incitement to subvert state power" by a court in the southern city of Guiyang for the 36 essays he had written and posted online criticizing the Communist Party.

The U.N. Human Rights office said it was alarmed by the sentence.

According to his wife Zhang Qunxuan, Chen told the court he was innocent and said he will not appeal the verdict.

Rights groups have accused Beijing of using the Christmas period as cover for a crackdown.

"It does work really well because there's no diplomatic activity around Christmas," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch.

Chen Xi has been jailed several times since being involved in the 1989 protests.

He was arrested Nov 29 and charged in the southern province of Guizhou.

Another activist, Chen Wei, a dissident in the southwestern city of Suining, was jailed last week for nine years for criticising the party.

Another veteran dissident to be jailed this year is Liu Xianbin, a democracy activist who has spent 10 years in prison and was given another 10 year sentence in March.

Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for co-authoring Charter 08, which called for an end to single-party rule and advocates democratic political reforms.

Terming the sentence on Chen Xi "extremely harsh", UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said it "indicates a further tightening of the severe restrictions on the scope of freedom of expression in China that has been seen over the last two years".

"I call upon Chinese authorities to release any person detained for peacefully exercising his or her right to freedom of expression," she said in a statement released Monday.

Source: http://story.heraldglobe.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/202153508/cs/1/

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