Cyber-dissident Lü Gengsong sentenced to four years in prison

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by yesterday's decision by a higher court in Zhejiang to uphold the four-year prison sentence that was imposed on lawyer and cyber-dissident Lü Gengsong in February on a subversion charge in connection with articles posted online. Lü's lawyer argued before the court that his client was not guilty because the offending articles were not subversive. The organisation calls for his immediate release. - 05 April 2008 Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the four-year prison sentence passed today by an intermediate court in the eastern city of Hangzhou on cyber-dissident Lü Gengsong for “inciting subversion of state authority.” Lü had spent 10 months in pretrial detention. “This sentence is further evidence of China's continuing crackdown on dissidents,” the press freedom organisation said. “The charge on which Lu was convicted is meant to intimidate. Lü just used his right to free expression and we call on the court to revise its verdict.” Based in the southeastern province of Zhejiang and a member of the writers organisation International PEN, Lü wrote articles about corruption that he posted on the Internet. His wife said reference was made to five of his articles during the trial although the passages regarded as “subversive” were not quoted. Lu's family received written notification from the Public Security Bureau in Xihu (near de Hangzhou) on 16 September that he would not be allowed to have lawyer because the case involved “possession of state secrets.” A petition signed by more than a thousand Chinese intellectuals published on 27 August called for Lü's release and mentioned the promises to improve respect for human rights which Chinese officials made in 2001 when Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics. With six months to go to the start of the Beijing Olympics, China continues to be the world's biggest prison for bloggers and journalists. Last year, Reporters Without Borders registered the closure of more than 2,500 websites, most of them discussion forums. See the verdict in Chinese