Chinese rights lawyer jailed two years for inciting subversion
Jiang Tianyong
FILE PHOTO: Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up portraits of  Chinese disbarred lawyer Jiang Tianyong   demanding  his  release  during a demonstration outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong  China December 23  2016. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
In a verdict posted on its official Weibo microblog on Tuesday morning  the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court said the lawyer   Jiang  Tianyong  developed notions of overthrowing China’s political system after being influenced by training workshops held by “anti-China foreign forces” overseas.
The court said  Jiang   46  used social media to “attack or defame” Chinese government departments and incited others to gather and demonstrate in public.
 Jiang ’s wife  Jin Bianling  who lives in the United States  told Reuters on Tuesday that the verdict was “unacceptable” and that she believed her husband was being made an example to “deter or repress” other rights lawyers.
“I do not acknowledge or accept this verdict ” she said in a telephone interview. “Jiang Tianyong is innocent”.
The verdict was handed down exactly one year after  Jiang  first disappeared last November while visiting the family of another detained rights lawyer.  He  was held incommunicado for six months before being formally charged.
The facts in the court’s ruling were broadly similar to those in a confession made by  Jiang  during  his  trial in August. Video footage of  Jiang  reading parts of a written statement were released by the court via social media at the time.
But rights groups said the trial was a show trial designed to discredit  him  and that  Jiang  was caught up in a sweeping campaign directed against lawyers and activists.
Jin said  Jiang ’s family was unable to appoint their own lawyers and that she had not been able to contact  Jiang  since  his  detention.
“We don’t know what  his  conditions are inside  or what kind of torture of mistreatment  he  has suffered ” she said.
FILE PHOTO: Pro-democracy demonstrators hold up portraits of [TGT]demanding  [TGT]  release  during a demonstration outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong  China December 23  2016. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
In a verdict posted on its official Weibo microblog on Tuesday morning  the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court said the lawyer   [TGT]developed notions of overthrowing China’s political system after being influenced by training workshops held by “anti-China foreign forces” overseas.
The court said  Jiang   46  used social media to “attack or defame” Chinese government departments and incited others to gather and demonstrate in public.
 Jiang ’s wife  Jin Bianling  who lives in the United States  told Reuters on Tuesday that the verdict was “unacceptable” and that she believed her husband was being made an example to “deter or repress” other rights lawyers.
“I do not acknowledge or accept this verdict ” she said in a telephone interview. “Jiang Tianyong is innocent”.
The verdict was handed down exactly one year after  Jiang  first disappeared last November while visiting the family of another detained rights lawyer.  He  was held incommunicado for six months before being formally charged.
The facts in the court’s ruling were broadly similar to those in a confession made by  Jiang  during  his  trial in August. Video footage of  Jiang  reading parts of a written statement were released by the court via social media at the time.
But rights groups said the trial was a show trial designed to discredit  him  and that  Jiang  was caught up in a sweeping campaign directed against lawyers and activists.
Jin said  Jiang ’s family was unable to appoint their own lawyers and that she had not been able to contact  Jiang  since  his  detention.
“We don’t know what  his  conditions are inside  or what kind of torture of mistreatment  he  has suffered ” she said.