Beijing - Chinese courts yesterday sentenced two organisers of a fledgling opposition party to long jail terms for subversion, as Communist authorities moved swiftly to crush organised resistance.
Amid dramatic scenes in a heavily guarded Beijing court, veteran dissident Xu Wenli was convicted after a trial lasting only three hours and jailed for 13 years. It took 20 minutes for judges to decide the sentence after finding Mr Xu guilty. Separately, a court in the eastern city of Hangzhou jailed another organiser of the Chinese Democratic Party, Mr Wang Youcai, for 11 years. Wang's trial took place last Thursday.