Beijing (AsiaNews) - After a trial that lasted less than an hour, a court in Sichuan, south-western China, found dissident poet Li Bifeng, 48, guilty of unspecified contract fraud and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. The court also fined him 30,000 Yuan (US$ 4,800). Li had been an activist in Tiananmen Square in 1989. After surviving the bloodbath, he spent a total of 12 years behind bars for his action in favour of human rights in China.
"There was nothing in his affairs that had anything to do with contracts," Li's lawyer Ma Xiaopeng said. "The only contracts he had signed had long since expired," a blatant error he wants to appeal
Ma "had expected a sentence of 15 years, so at least it's somewhat lighter;" even so it was "still unacceptable".
Li does is not inclined to appeal. According to Ma, he thinks it might be a waste of time.
Li "said he would think about it for a couple of days, but my feeling was that he probably didn't want to appeal, because he thought it wouldn't do much good," Ma explained.
Li's wife, Jiang Xia, hopes he will reconsider. "Our son is 17 years old this year, and he cried when he heard the news," she said.
The dissident poet was arrested last year, two months after his friend Liao, also a dissident writer, fled China after being denied an exit visa 17 times. From the safety of Germany where he now lives, Liao called the conviction "evil".
Huang Qi said China's crackdown on dissent was continuing unabated, even after the party congress ended. He too "strongly condemned this sentence".
Tax fraud has become the latest tool against dissidents. Wei Jingsheng, the most prominent pro-democracy campaigner, was charged with tax evasion. The same happened to artist Ai Weiwei.