A former university professor who frequently criticised the Chinese government and called for multi-party elections has been sentenced to ten years in prison, a rights group said Saturday.
Guo Quan, founder of the independent New Democracy Party of China, was jailed Friday for "subversion of state power", Human Rights in China said in a statement.
Calls to Suqian Intermediate People's Court in the eastern province of Jiangsu went unanswered Saturday.
"This sentence is indefensible from a legal perspective because using peaceful and rational means to petition cannot be considered 'subversion of state power'," Guo's lawyer was quoted in the statement saying.
"Guo Quan's actions were in complete compliance with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. 'Subversion of state power' can only be achieved by armed insurrection."
Guo advocated a "multi-party, competitively elected democratic system" and was consequently sacked by Nanjing Normal University in late 2007, the statement said.
He was arrested in Nanjing, the provincial capital, in November 2008 after publishing on the Internet "a large number" of articles and letters addressed to Chinese President Hu Jintao and other leaders, the statement said.
The articles and letters referred to social problems in China such as laid-off workers and peasants who had lost their land.
"Subversion of state power" is a vague charge that critics of China's government say is used by the ruling Communist Party to silence dissenters.
The Communist Party retains a firm grip on all political activity in China. It allows eight other parties to exist but they remain subservient to the interests of the ruling party.
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