A mainland Chinese court conducted a secret trial for human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and forced him to plead guilty, leading to his jailing in June for four years, his wife said.

The ruling was handed down on June 17, but Yu’s wife Xu Yan received it only after his sentencing, she said in four tweets on Saturday revealing the 15-page judgment of his trial.

According to the judgment, a court in Jiangsu province tried Yu publicly in May last year for incitement to subvert state power and obstruction of public service. He was jailed for four years, until March 2022, and was also stripped of his political rights for three years.

Yu was remorseful and pleaded guilty, asking for a lenient sentence, the judgment said.

His crimes included writing a public letter on social media that suggested amending the constitution and rejected the current regime, the party’s leadership and the socialist system, the judgment said. His other crime was in taking interviews with media outlets affiliated with the Falun Gong — which Beijing accuses as a cult — and defaming the government.

Xu said her husband’s right hand was disabled and could not write. He has been detained for over 1,000 days and, according to a source, has asked to appeal.

Yu’s lawyer Lu Siwei was allowed to read the judgment only in the middle of August.

Lu and another lawyer, Lin Qilei, were allowed to meet him on Thursday. Yu told them that he was tortured during interrogation and tricked by a lawyer appointed by the government, and that the government threatened to harm his family, forcing him to plead guilty, according to a report by the overseas Chinese media New Tang Dynasty Television.

The report also claimed Yu was asked to report other human rights lawyers in exchange for membership in the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play