Chinese Dissident Qin Yongmin Sentenced to 13 Years in Jail

Qin Yongmin, one of China’s highest-profile democracy campaigners, has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for “subversion of state power”.

The 64-year-old has already spent a total of 22 years behind bars.

Qin Yongmin had “refused to cooperate with the court” and stayed silent throughout his trial, human rights lawyer Lin Qilei earlier told the AFP.

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The dissident is a co-founder of the China Democracy Party, and was handed a 12-year prison term in 1998 after trying to register it officially. A year later, while still in prison, Qin Yongmin was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Qin Yongmin was leading a pro-democracy group called China Human Rights Watch when he was arrested in January 2015. Its activities included organizing discussion groups and criticizing the government’s policies online.