Mr Xia was detained in
November 2014, after taking on the case to defend activist Guo Yushan, who ran
a civil think tank and openly supported Hong Kong's pro-democracy Occupy
Central movement.
A human
rights lawyer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison by a court in China.
Xia Lin, whose clients
included the famous Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, was jailed by the
Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court after earlier being found guilty of
fraud.
It is understood to be the
longest jail sentence received in China by a human rights lawyer.
Chinese prosecutors claimed
that Mr Xia coerced some associates into lending him money to pay off gambling
debts.
Human
rights group CHRD told Sky News that none of those he was accused of borrowing
money from had filed a criminal or civil suit against him.
His
lawyer says most of the questions he was asked by police during his
interrogation were about Occupy, his work with Ai Weiwei and other
"politically sensitive cases".
Mr Xia
pleaded not guilty to fraud but was convicted on 17 September after a trial
lasting five hours.
It was the
first time Mr Xia's wife Lin Ru had seen her husband since his arrest.
Ms Lin
described the scene in the court room as he was sentenced.
She said
her husband was denied the right to speak at the hearing and was the dragged
out of the court room by the police before shouting from the corridor: "I
know this is revenge to me because I was the lawyer for all those sensitive
cases."
Ms Lin
said: "I trust my husband. He didn't commit fraud. He's innocent. I will
appeal and carry on the legal procedure."
"I
was prepared for the worst, but it still came as a huge blow to me, I didn't
know how to react, I felt numb."
"This
is unfair and unjust. I don't accept the verdict," Ms Lin added.
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