Sichuan Court Jails Activists

By Radio Free Asia
September 28, 2010

Dissidents had protested an earlier series of decisions by the court.

Authorities in China's southwestern province of Sichuan have convicted 10 rights activists on charges of disturbing public order, handing down jail terms of up to three years in some cases.

The sentences were handed down by the Central District People's Court in Leshan city on Tuesday, after the men staged a 2009 protest at a series of the court's decisions in recent years.

Bao Junsheng was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for "gathering a crowd to disturb social order," while fellow activists Zeng Li and Huang Xiaomin received two-and-a-half-year sentences.

Zeng Rongkang, Xing Qingxian, Yan Wenhan, and Lu Dachun each received two-year jail terms.

Liu Jiwei was released from detention, while Xu Chongli was sentenced to a one-year supervision order.

The men were first tried for "assembling a crowd to disrupt social order" on April 7. However, their case was sent back to the People's Procuratorate, the local state prosecutor, for more evidence.

Their sentencing comes more than 18 months after they were detained for chaining themselves together in a protest outside the court on Feb. 23, 2009.

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