UNHR Chief concerned about Chen Wei's harsh sentence

December 27, 2011: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Monday that she was deeply concerned about the verdict and extremely harsh sentence in the trial of leading human rights activist Chen Wei, adding that this represents another serious setback for the protection and promotion of human rights in China.

Chen was convicted on Wednesday of "inciting subversion of state power" as a result of his involvement in the drafting of articles on overseas websites, including Democratic China, Human Rights in China and China E-Weekly.

Chen Wei was one of the student leaders in the 1989 Democracy Movement and has already spent more than five years in prison for his peaceful expression of dissent. On Friday, he was sentenced to nine years. Chen had pleaded not guilty and insisted he was exercising his freedom of opinion as guaranteed by the Chinese constitution.

"The conviction and extremely harsh sentencing of Chen Wei indicates a further tightening of the severe restrictions on the scope of freedom of expression in China that has been seen over the last two years," Pillay said.

"I call upon Chinese authorities to release any person detained for peacefully exercising his or her right to freedom of expression," the High Commissioner said.