Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A Chinese court has sentenced the dissident Qin Yongmin, 64, to prison for 13 years, with the accusation of "subversion of state power". The man is one of the leading exponents of the pro-democracy movement. Qin has already spent 22 years in prison.
His lawyer Lin Qilei, told press that during the trial his client remained silent and refused to answer the court's questions. The verdict was confirmed by the People's Court in the city of Wuhan in central China.
Qin founded the China democracy party together with other dissidents. In 1998 he was formally convicted - after a lengthy preventive detention - for trying to register it officially. The following year he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2015 he was arrested again. Qin led the China human rights watch group, which was responsible for creating online groups for the discussion and criticism of government policies.
The verdict was made public the day after Liu Xia, widow of dissident Liu Xiabo, was released and received permission to leave China.
