Two prominent Chinese human rights lawyers have been sentenced to prison for more than 10 years after a court found them guilty of subverting state power.
Xu Zhiyong, 50, and Ding Jiaxi, 55, were put on trial behind closed doors in June 2022 on charges of state subversion at a court in Linshu County in the northeastern province of Shandong.
Xu and Ding are prominent figures within the New Citizens’ Movement and have previously served prison sentences. Their movement, founded in 2010, demands greater transparency into the wealth of officials and advocates for citizens to exercise their rights as written in the constitution.
Ding has been handed a 12-year jail term and deprived of his political rights for three years, his wife Luo Shengchun tweeted.
Xu, a former lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, was sentenced to prison for 14 years and similarly deprived of his political rights for four years
