Chinese Dissident Is Sentenced to 11 Years

Wang Dan, one of China’s best-known dissidents and a leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, was convicted today of trying to overthrow the government.

Wang, 27, was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment for “conspiring to subvert the Chinese government,” the state-run New China News Agency said in a brief statement.

Wang spent four years in prison for his activities in 1989, when he was a student leader of the protests in Tiananmen Square. After his release, he continued to call for more freedom and tolerance.

The guilty verdict was almost a foregone conclusion because most criminal trials in China result in convictions.

Ignoring international protests, the government kept the trial secret, refusing to allow international observers.

Police cordoned off the courthouse early this morning. They confiscated videotapes from at least two foreign cameramen and threatened an Associated Press reporter with expulsion from China if he returned.

A court official, contacted by telephone, would say only that the trial had begun. He would not give his name. Court and other government officials have refused to provide more information.

“Every country handles cases according to its own national laws,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang told reporters Tuesday.

In December, Wei Jingsheng, one of the boldest advocates of democracy and human rights, was convicted of trying to overthrow the government and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The government has crushed the dissident movement in recent years. Most active dissidents have been tried and sentenced to prison or detained for up to three years in labor camps without trials.

The police presence outside the courthouse this morning was unusually heavy and unusually unpleasant, even for China.

A crowd gathered to gawk at a cluster of foreign journalists outside the police cordon. Because of the government’s tight control on information, most thought Wang was still in prison and were surprised to hear he was facing trial again.

“The sad thing is that nobody knows,” said a travel agent, who did not give his name for fear of government reprisal. “The student movement was such a big thing that nobody can forget it. Just because we don’t talk about it openly doesn’t mean we don’t care.”

“He’s definitely innocent,” said a man who works at the legal department at Beijing University, Wang’s alma mater.

Legal experts from the United States, Canada, Chile and France asked to attend Wang’s trial to gauge its fairness but were not allowed. The U.S. Embassy also applied to send an observer, but said the government did not reply.

Human Rights Watch said that by refusing to allow foreign observers, China violated the right to a fair trial specified by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which China is obliged to uphold as a member of the United Nations.