Chen Wei gets nine years for writing pro-democracy essays

VETERAN Chinese dissident Chen Wei has been sentenced to nine years in jail for publishing "subversive" pro-democracy essays online, his wife says. The Guardian believes it is the most severe punishment yet in a savage crackdown on dissent.

Chen's lawyer said he had pleaded not guilty to the charges. As he was sent down, he told the court: "I protest. I am innocent. The governance of democracy must win, autocracy must die."

Amnesty International reported Chen's arrest in April, saying he had been picked up some time between March 25 and 28. He had been invited to a police station to take tea – and did not return home afterwards.

His wife, Wang Xiaoyan, told The Daily Telegraph by phone that he was convicted for just four essays written for overseas-based Chinese websites, pointing out that because of China's 'Great Firewall', they could only be read abroad.

She added: "He is innocent and the punishment was too harsh. The court did not allow him to defend himself and his freedom of speech was completely deprived of.

"What's wrong about a person freely expressing his ideas?"

Human rights activist – and lifelong friend of Chen – Huang Qi said before the sentencing that he expected it to be harsh: "Other people have been released, but the Communist Party authorities always have one soft hand and one hard fist.

"The authorities will certainly mete out some heavy sentences to serve as a deterrent to others," he told the Telegraph.

He does not enjoy the international recognition of artist Ai Weiwei, but Chen is the most prominent voice of dissent in Sichuan province – and one of the most outspoken critics of the communist regime in China.

Though only 42, Chen, who trained as an engineer, can reasonably be described as a "veteran" - he was one of the student leaders involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, which led not to glasnost but to a massacre.

There were high hopes again, earlier this year, for a so-called 'Jasmine Revolution' – and Chen was accused of fomenting it with his online essays. Inspired by the similarly named protests in Tunisia which heralded the Arab Spring, the Chinese version involved weekly street protests at cities across the country.

Despite beatings given to chanting demonstrators at the first protest on February 20, these protests continued into March. By that time, the Chinese authorities had begun a harsh crackdown, which commentators said was the biggest since the end of the Tiananmen Square putdown.

By mid-April, The New York Times was reporting that at least 54 dissidents had been arrested. Since then, various punishments have been meted out – one female activist received nine months' detention – but Chen Wei's sentence is the harshest yet. ·