Liu Xiaobo:
A court handed down a harsh 11-year sentence to a prominent dissident today on subversion charges after he called for sweeping political reforms and an end to Communist Party dominance.Liu Xiaobo was sentenced despite international appeals for his release. Rights groups said the sentence was a warning to others who challenge China's one-party rule.
Liu was the co-author of an unusually direct appeal for political liberalization 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.
"All I can tell you now is 11 years," the defendant's wife, Liu Xia, told The Associated Press on Friday. Diplomats said they were told by Liu's lawyers that he had been deprived of his political rights for a further two years.
The vaguely worded charge of inciting to subvert state power is routinely used to jail dissidents. Liu could have received 15 years in prison.
A San Francisco-based human rights group, the Dui Hua Foundation, said it was the longest term it knew of since the crime of inciting subversion was established in 1997.
Liu is the only person to have been arrested for organizing the Charter 08 appeal, but others who signed it have reported being harassed.
Abolishing the law on inciting to subvert state power is among the reforms advocated in Charter 08. "We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes," the petition says.
Liu's wife was allowed to meet with him for 10 minutes after the sentencing and said he planned to appeal.
"Our lawyers are going to talk to the authorities next week about the appeal," Liu Xia said. She said her husband looked calm and asked about family and friends.
The United States and European Union have 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 U.S. Embassy, told reporters outside the courthouse. May was one of a dozen diplomats kept out of the trial and sentencing by authorities.
"Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally recognized norms of human rights," May said.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said this week that statements from embassies calling for Liu's release were "a gross interference of China's internal affairs."
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the ruling showed the government would take a hard line against human rights activists.
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