WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Tuesday condemned China’s sentencing of two human rights lawyers to more than a decade each in jail, the latest move in a years-long crackdown on civil society by President Xi Jinping.
Xu Zhiyong, 50, and Ding Jiaxi, 55, were sentenced on Monday to jail terms of 14 years and 12 years for supporting such internationally recognized freedoms as the freedoms of assembly and expression, the State Department said.
“We urge the PRC to immediately and unconditionally release these two unjustly detained human rights defenders and to cease any harassment of their family members,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Xu and Ding went on trial behind closed doors in June on charges of state subversion in the northeastern province of Shandong, relatives told Reuters at the time.
The two are prominent figures in the New Citizens Movement, which sought greater transparency into the wealth of officials and for Chinese citizens to be able to exercise their civil rights as written in the constitution.
“These sentences demonstrate the PRC’s expansive effort to intimidate and silence all aspects of civil society,” Patel said in a statement.
China’s foreign ministry on Monday said it was not aware of the cases.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Mark Porter)
