(From AFP)
A Chinese court sentenced three activists to prison on Friday for allegedly attempting to start a non-violent civil rights movement, family members and campaign groups said, the latest example of the Communist Party’s intensifying crackdown on dissent.
Tang Jingling received a five-year sentence, while Yuan Xinting and Wang Qingying were given three-and-a-half and two-and-a-half-year terms respectively, Amnesty International said in a press release.
The conviction for “inciting subversion of state power” was handed down by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court, the London-based group said.
“This is a ridiculous verdict,” said Tang’s wife Wang Yanfang, who confirmed the sentences.
“They are not guilty of any crime. They just upheld values of justice,” she said.
China’s Communist party does not tolerate anything it perceives as a potential threat to its rule, and dozens of activists have been imprisoned since President Xi Jinping took office two years ago.
During the trial, police accused the Guangzhou trio of distributing the books about non-violent resistance and “wilfully incited the subversion of state power and the overthrow of the socialist system”. Read More