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Chinese activist sentenced to 6 years in jail
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BEIJING – A lawyer says a leading Chinese rights activist who organized rallies for media freedom has been sentenced to six years in prison in what the lawyer described as a hurried and unfair trial at a court in southern China.
Li Jinxing said a district court in the city of Guangzhou on Friday found Yang Maodong – better known by his penname Guo Feixiong – guilty of disturbing public order.
It also convicted him of provoking troubles – a charge Li says was announced minutes before the trial.
Li says the additional charge was illegal and added to the heavy prison sentence.
Yang helped organize demonstrations and spoke in support of the editorial staff at the newspaper Southern Weekly in Guangzhou in January 2013, after its journalists complained of censorship.
