Chinese human rights lawyer jailed for four years, says his wife

Sentencing of Yu Wensheng behind closed doors comes after secret trial in May 2019

A Chinese court has secretly convicted and handed down a four-year jail sentence to one of China's most outspoken human rights lawyers, Yu Wensheng, on the charge of inciting subversion of state power", according to his wife.

Yu's wife, Xu Yan, told the Guardian that she was informed by phone by the prosecutor's office in Xuzhou city in the eastern province of Jiangsu that her husband's term was ordered in a closed door sentencing on Wednesday morning. The Xuzhou city intermediate people's court also deprived Yu of his political rights, meaning he is barred from serving in public positions, publishing and speaking publicly, for three years.