China Gives Dissident Wei 14-Year Term

A Chinese court today took less than six hours to convict China’s leading dissident, Wei Jingsheng, of sedition and sentence him to 14 years in prison.

The state-run New China News Agency reported the conviction and sentence in a two-paragraph announcement that gave no further details.

Wei came to prominence in 1979 for powerful essays about democracy and human rights during a short-lived pro-democracy movement.

Wei had faced a minimum of 10 years in jail and possible execution if convicted.

Wei had had only a few days to prepare a trial and obtain a lawyer.

State-run news agencies have not carried any stories about the case as part of a government effort to keep the public ignorant about the nation’s tiny dissident community.

The leaders are determined to stamp out dissent during the struggle over who will succeed Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s economic reforms who is now old and feeble. They have been emboldened by Western governments’ unwillingness to sacrifice growing trade with Beijing for human rights.

The United States and other Western governments have reproached Beijing for trying Wei but have not threatened reprisals. A U.S. Embassy spokesman deferred comment today on the conviction but reiterated the U.S. position “that Mr. Wei should not be prosecuted for the peaceful expression of his idea.”

Human rights groups have been harsher in their criticisms. Amnesty International in London noted that Wei was being subjected to a “show trial.”

Wei was released in 1993 after serving 14 1/2 years of a 15-year prison sentence for his pro-democracy activities. He immediately called again for democracy for China in essays and interviews.

Wei disappeared into custody on April 1, 1994, and was held for 20 months before authorities charged him in November with trying to overthrow the government.