(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-03 12:05

Hu Jia was sentenced here Thursday by the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court to three and half years imprisonment, with one year deprivation of political rights, for subverting the state.

The verdict said Hu, an unemployed father aged 34 and the holder of a college degree, libeled the Chinese political and social systems, and instigated subversion of the state, which is a crime under Chinese law.

Considering Hu's confession of crime and acceptance of punishment, the court said it had decided the ruling with leniency and announced a less harsh prison sentence.

The court heard that from August 2006 to October 2007, Hu published articles on overseas-run websites, made comments in interviews with foreign media, and repeatedly instigated other people to subvert the state's political power and socialist system.

In his two website articles, 'China Political Law-enforcement Organs Create Large-scale Horror ahead of CPC National Congress', and 'One Country Doesn't Need Two Systems', Hu spread malicious rumors, and committed libel in an attempt to subvert the state's political power and socialist system, the court said in the verdict.

The articles written by Hu and his interviews were widely relayed by overseas-run websites, the court said.

The court said the verdict was based on Article 105, 56 and 55 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.

Both his lawyer and Hu himself defended the accused. Hu's family, among others, heard the court debate and attended the court while Hu's sentence was pronounced.