Beijing: A famed 81-year-old Chinese dissident writer was given a suspended two and a half year prison sentence on Wednesday on charges of running an illegal business, apparently because he published articles critical of the country's propaganda chief.
A lawyer for Huang Zerong, who uses the pen name Tie Liu, said his client was also fined USD 5,000. Lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said Huang denied running an illegal business, a charge that was related to a self-published magazine Huang distributed for free.
A vague charge of causing trouble lodged at the time of Huang's detention in September was dropped before the trial.
"Clearly this is a compromise outcome. He was held for five months for nothing," Liu said in a telephone interview.
Huang was taken from his Beijing home after publishing articles criticising propaganda chief Liu Yunshan, a member of the ruling Communist Party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, for tightening controls over the news media.
His magazine, Small Scars from the Past, also published articles chronicling the experiences of people persecuted during party political campaigns.
Huang is one of the oldest dissidents to be formally charged. His history as a critic of the party dates from the 1950s, when he was labelled a "rightist" under the founder of the Communist state, Mao Zedong, and was sentenced to 23 years in a labour camp.
Huang's caregiver, Huang Jing, was given a one-year suspended sentence and fined USD 800. It was not clear why the caregiver was detained along with Huang.
Calls to the court in the southwestern city of Chengdu, where the trial had been moved from Beijing, rang unanswered. Huang's wife, Ren Hengfang, said she was too distraught to comment.
Liu was not at the trial, and Huang was represented instead by a court-appointed lawyer. That, and the lightness of the sentence, appeared to indicate the authorities wanted to wrap up the matter quickly and quietly by expediting the proceedings.
"The charges didn't stand up and the court lacked jurisdiction," Liu said.
China's leadership has become less tolerant of criticism, and authorities are increasingly using coercion and detention to suppress dissent. Lawyers, activists, writers, artists and businesspeople have been caught up in the web of the internal security forces, with many disappearing for months before facing trial.
