Gao Zhisheng, who used to work for a Beijing law office, was sentenced to three years in prison on a charge of subversion, with a five-year reprieval and deprival of political rights for one year, according to sources with a local court on Friday.

Gao was accused of posting nine seditious articles, including "Three Open Letters to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao" and "The Regime Has Never Stopped Killing People" on websites like Epochtimes.com and SecretChina.com, according to the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court.

In the articles, Gao defamed and made rumors about China's current government and social system, conspiring to topple down the regime, the court said.

He had received 10 interviews by overseas media, such as the "Radio Free Asia" and "Voice of Hope", and the records of his seditious talks were made into audio programs and posted on their websites for online listening and downloading, it said.

The court considered Gao's behaviors of publishing articles online and taking interviews to slander the government and social system have committed the crime of subversion.

But Gao also voluntarily reported others' offences and provided important clues for cracking other cases, a contribution to win him a lenient penalty and a reprieval of five years, the court heard.

The court published the trial time and place three days earlier in accordance with related laws and notified the prosecutor and defence counsels as well.

Gao's families also sat in at the trial.