Prominent Chinese rights lawyer gets 12 years

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING

A Chinese court sentenced a prominent rights lawyer to 12 years in prison Thursday on fraud charges.

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that Xia Lin, who provided counsel in several high-profile “politically sensitive cases”, was convicted of fraud involving 4.8 million yuan ($720,000).

The 46-year-old had defended artist Ai Weiwei, who has frequently criticized the ruling Communist Party and was detained for 81 days in 2011, and rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who was detained for online posts criticizing government figures and policies on ethnic minorities and handed a suspended three-year sentence in December.

Thursday’s verdict by the Beijing No 2 Intermediate Court did not mention any of the cases defended by Xia.