Communist China Sentences Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in Prison on Christmas Day | Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

— “Liu was one of the primary authors of Charter 08,, a peaceful online manifesto calling for practical democratic reform in China with over 10,000 signatories.” — Laogai Research Foundation

Chinese Activist Liu Gets 11 Years
— WSJ reports:
— “A Chinese court sentenced Liu Xiaobo, China’s most prominent dissident, to 11 years in prison for criticizing the government, an unusually long sentence that rights activists say suggests other activists will also face harsh punishment.”
— “The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court announced Friday its ruling that Mr. Liu was guilty of ‘inciting subversion of state power.'”
— “The 53-year-old scholar had spent more than a year in detention before his trial Wednesday, which lasted less than three hours.”
— “Mr. Liu plans to appeal the decision, said one of his lawyers, Ding Xikui. ‘There were some flaws in the procedures of the trial,’ he said, but he declined to comment further. Appeals on sensitive political charges almost never succeed in China, where political directives often supersede the written law.”
— “Mr. Liu has pushed for democratic reforms since the 1980s, and was a participant in the 1989 protests on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. He was detained by authorities last year shortly after he helped write Charter 08, a call for sweeping legal and political change, which hundreds of other scholars also signed.”
— “The letter, which has since attracted thousands of signatures of Chinese citizens, is seen as one of the boldest challenges to Communist Party rule in recent memory.”

China court sentences dissident Liu to 11 years jail for subversion
— Kyodo News reports:
“Prominent Chinese human rights defender and political dissident Liu Xiaobo was sentenced by a Beijing court to 11 years in prison for subversion Friday, his lawyers said.”

Liu Xiaobo sentence criticized as harsh
— UPI: Human-rights groups and governments have condemned the 11-year sentence of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo despite Beijing claiming criticisms are interference in its internal affairs.
— “In Brussels, the European Union said it was ‘deeply concerned by the disproportionate sentence,’ according to a report by the British Broadcasting Corp. U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said in Geneva that the case represents ‘a further severe restriction on the scope of freedom of expression in China.’ ”
— “The Obama administration issued a statement on the America.gov Web site that the trial is ‘uncharacteristic of a great country.’ Philip Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs, told reporters just before the sentencing that Liu’s case is “clearly a political trial that will likely lead to a political conviction.’ ”

— Wall Street Journal reports:
— “Chinese leader Hu Jintao is putting Christmas to the most cynical use imaginable: jailing a prominent dissident on a holiday when most of the world’s media and government workers will be preoccupied with family and friends.”
— “While millions of Christians are commemorating the day “grace and truth” became incarnate in Bethlehem, Liu Xiaobo will be sentenced for speaking truth to communist power. This callous exploitation of Christmas should inspire freedom-loving people, whether Christian or not, to keep Mr. Liu and his family in their thoughts over the holiday.”
— “Mr. Liu, a drafter of the Charter 08 manifesto a year ago calling for political reform, is so far the only one of more than 8,000 signatories to be arrested and tried for subversion. His trial comes in the midst of an intensifying crackdown on all forms of dissent. Mr. Liu was subjected to a two-hour “trial” yesterday– his wife, chosen lawyer and outside observers were excluded—and the verdict is due to be announced on Friday morning.”