BEIJING: A Chinese court sentenced a prominent dissident to 11 years on Friday — the longest term ever handed down for subversion charges, according to rights groups that say it signals the government will take an increasingly hard line against activists in the year ahead.
The sentencing of Liu Xiaobo, after he called for sweeping political reforms and an end to Communist Party dominance, also drew diplomatic criticism, with the United States saying it went against international norms.
Liu was the co-author of an unusually direct appeal for political liberalization in China called Charter 08. He was detained just before it was released last December. More than 300 people, including some of China’s top intellectuals, signed it.
The verdict was issued at the No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing after a two-hour trial Wednesday in which prosecutors accused Liu of “serious” crimes.
The vaguely worded charge of inciting to subvert state power is routinely used to jail dissidents. Liu could have been sentenced for up to 15 years in prison under the charge.
A San Francisco-based human rights group, the Dui Hua Foundation, said it was the longest sentence that it knew of since the crime of inciting subversion was established in 1997.
The state-run Xinhua news agency only reported the news in English. The United States and European Union have repeatedly urged Beijing to free Liu. “We are deeply concerned by the sentence of 11 years in prison announced today,” Gregory May, first secretary with the US Embassy, told reporters outside the courthouse. May was one of a dozen diplomats stopped by authorities from attending the trial and sentencing.
“Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally recognized norms of human rights,” May said.
The German government said Chancellor Angela Merkel was “dismayed” by Liu’s sentence. “I regret it that the Chinese government, despite great progress in other areas, still massively restricts freedom of opinion and of the press,” Merkel said in a brief statement released by her office.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters this week that statements from embassies calling for Liu’s release were “a gross interference of China’s internal affairs.”
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the sentence was a setback for Chinese activists. “Cases such as that of Liu Xiaobo risk not just halting, but seriously reversing that momentum” toward increasing democratic freedoms in China, she said.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the ruling showed the government would be taking a hard line against human rights activists in the year ahead.
