China Finds Lawyer Who Exposed Torture Allegations Guilty of Inciting Subversion<br />21, 2017<br />BEIJING — A Chinese human rights lawyer who has supported the families of other lawyers<br />and activists detained in a sweeping crackdown since 2015 was declared guilty on Tuesday of inciting subversion by a court in southern China and sentenced to two years in prison.<br />pic.twitter.com/Hc0vpqWSHb The Hunan Intermediate People’s Court announced the sentencing of Mr. Jiang over Sina.com Weibo, a popular Chinese social media service, and the judge made clear<br />that Mr. Jiang was being held up as a warning to other activist lawyers who challenge the strict control of President Xi Jinping, the Communist Party leader.<br />But his family, human rights groups and other supporters have condemned his trial in August as a carefully staged sham,<br />and rights advocates called the verdict a vendetta after Mr. Jiang helped bring to light another lawyer’s allegations that he had been brutalized in custody.<br />The most specific charge against Mr. Jiang was that he had engaged in subversion by helping publicize the claims of another detained<br />lawyer, Xie Yang, who said he had been tortured in custody, according to documents his lawyers shared early this year.<br />China said that Jiang Tianyong had for a long time come under the influence of anti-Chinese infiltration,<br />and gradually formed the idea of overturning the country’s existing political system,<br />Standing behind friend and brave Chinese human rights lawyer #JiangTianyong today<br />as he prepares for prison, the latest victim of China’s ongoing crackdown.
