A court in China has jailed a housing rights activist for the second time on the charge of incitement against the state, a common accusation routinely used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to suppress dissent.
The Intermediate People’s Court in Shanghai found Chen Jianfang, 51, guilty of “incitement to subvert state power,” during a closed-door trial wherein she was refused the right to a defence attorney, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on December 1.
The exact jail time is unknown but she has been fined 30,000 yuan (US$4,200) as a monetary penalty.
Her supporters termed the allegations baseless and refused to accept the verdict.
Rights lawyer Wang Yu said that Chen “appeared in court alone, and no one was present, neither family members nor defence attorneys, when the verdict was pronounced.”
Wang said that the exact date of the verdict was not known but officials have recently revealed the sentence.
“Chen Jianfang’s husband was perhaps a little more co-operative, so the authorities let him know the verdict,” Wang said. “Even a one-day sentence would have been too long be-cause she is totally innocent.”