Beijing:
The wife of a Chinese activist says a court has sentenced him to 10 years in prison on charges of inciting subversion. Liu Xianbin has written articles online calling for street protests and democratic reforms.
Liu's wife Chen Mingxian told The Associated Press that the court in Suining city in Sichuan province found her husband guilty of inciting subversion of state power after a trial that lasted a few hours Friday.
The sentence is considered heavy. The charge carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment but could be longer if courts deem the offense to be particularly grave.
China's authoritarian government routinely uses the vaguely worded subversion charge to jail people it considers troublemakers. It is not the first time Liu has been accused of it.