China has sentenced prominent human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang to four and a half years in prison for state subversion.

Wang, 42, had defended political campaigners, victims of land seizures, as well as followers of the banned spiritual Falun Gong movement.

He was one of several lawyers and activists arrested in 2015 crackdown, and was the last to go on trial.

China has in recent years intensified its prosecution of rights lawyers.
Mr Wang was "found guilty of subverting state power, sentenced to four years and six months in prison, and deprived of political rights for five years," the court in Tianjin said.

The trial had been conducted behind closed doors with journalists and foreign diplomats barred from entering the courthouse.

The BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing says the sentence - which will include time already served - appears designed to send a chilling message to those who dare to challenge the authority of the Communist Party in court.

Michael Caster, researcher and author of The People's Republic of the Disappeared, told the BBC after the sentencing that Wang's case was "emblematic of Xi Jinping's assault on the human rights and legal community".

Source: BBC

BDST: 1059 HRS, JAN 28, 2019
SI