The conviction of the advocate, Hu Jia, 34, one of the most prominent human rights proponents in China, has quickly drawn outside criticism of China. Hu Jia has become one of China’s most outspoken activists, tackling issues including religious and political freedom, HIV/Aids, and the environment.
Hu’s trial, by the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court began last month. He was formally charged in February after he made public letters and recordings from Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng, alleging that Gao was tortured into confessing to subversion charges

The Accusations

Hu supporter Teng Biao, a lawyer who has defended political dissidents, was released by the Chinese government last month after spending two days in custody. In September 2007, Teng and Hu wrote an open letter requesting that the international community investigate China’s promises to improve its human rights record. In November 2007, rights group Dui Hua reported that the number of political arrests in China had more than doubled in 2006 and the country has been harshly criticized in recent months for cracking down on human rights activists and political dissidents ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as well as for their actions in Tibet.

He was detained on Dec. 27 last year and later charged with “incitement to subvert state power,” an accusation based on six essays and interviews in which he criticized the Communist Party. He wrote a long, blistering essay detailing how the police had tortured two people who had protested the illegal seizure of their homes in Beijing. In that essay, he also criticized the party’s human rights record.
Mr. Hu posted the essay on his personal blog in advance of last fall’s 17th Party Congress, a major political meeting in which the new party leadership was announced.
Last year, Mr. Hu was also a co-writer of an article that contended that the Communist Party had failed to fulfill its Olympic promises to improve human rights before the Beijing Games, though that article apparently was not included as evidence.

Hu’s Sentence

Li Fangping, Mr. Hu’s lawyer, said the court showed leniency by sentencing him to less than the maximum five-year term. The sentence also forbids Mr. Hu to make any public political statements for one year after his release from prison. Mr. Li said that Mr. Hu continued to maintain his innocence, though he had acknowledged outside the courtroom that some of his comments were “excessive” in the context of existing law.
Mr. Hu has 10 days to decide whether to appeal the verdict. His health is also an issue; he has hepatitis B and also takes medication for a deteriorating liver condition. Mr. Li said Mr. Hu had the option of applying for medical parole if he chose not to appeal.

Government

While prosecutors in China rarely discuss cases after a verdict, Xinhua, the country’s official news agency, reported that Mr. Hu had confessed to the charges. “Hu spread malicious rumors and committed libel in an attempt to subvert the state’s political power and socialist system,” the court verdict stated. The state media also stated that Mr Hu has been treated “with leniency” because he had acknowledged wrongdoing.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that his case had been handled “according to Chinese laws ” and urged people not to interfere in China’s internal affairs.
China’s subversion laws, like those for state secrets, are deliberately vague and grant prosecutors considerable leeway in determining subversive speech, although freedom of speech is included in the Constitution.

Hu’s wife, Zeng Jinyan

Hu’s wife, blogger and fellow activist Zeng Jinyan, was allowed to attend the hearing where the sentence was handed down. She rejected the court case against her husband.”They can use every tactic in the book to shut me up, but they can’t change the way I feel about this,”

“I’m very disappointed and very pained,” she said. “Yesterday, I thought he could be back home today.”
Zeng, who has been under house arrest with the couple’s four-month-old baby daughter since Hu ’s arrest Dec. 27 , after spending months under virtual house arrest because of his civil rights lobbying on behalf of disenfranchised people affected by the Olympics.
She and daughter Hu Qianci have been the focus of a goodwill campaign by other Chinese bloggers and “netizens”, who have coordinated attempts on line to get baby formula delivered to the couple’s apartment in Bobo Freedom City in Beijing.
Zeng, an AIDS activist and blogger who won an award from Paris-based Reporters Without Borders alongside Hu Jia last year, has updated her blog sporadically from house arrest, despite a clampdown by national security police on her telephone and Internet access.

Hu’s mother

Hu’s mother described her son as a sacrificial lamb on the altar of Chinese politics.
“I feel really wronged, in fact what Hu Jia did is good for society. After the trial, the judge asked family members to voice our opinions of the sentencing. I told him if you let people speak freely, the sky won’t fall.”
Hu appeared strained and worried in the dock during the hearing, and he wasn’t allowed to speak.
“They didn’t let him to say anything, not like last time,” his mother said. “I felt he was under great pressure. When he was led into court, he didn’t see us. After the trial, he didn’t look at us either,” she said.
Around 200 people congregated outside the court buildings to support Hu.