Two men sentenced to prison for subverting state power

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Lee Ming-che from Taiwan was sentenced to five years in prison for "subverting state power," by the Intermediate People's Court of Yueyang City in Hunan Province Tuesday.

Mainland resident Peng Yuhua was sentenced to seven years in prison on the same charge.

The two men were both deprived of their political rights for two years. They said they would not appeal.

Prosecutors accused Peng of recruiting dozens of people, including Lee, to establish an organization aimed at subverting state power and overturning the country's political system, using instant messaging services.

Peng started spreading ideas on subverting state power, and recruiting group members on instant messaging platform QQ in May 2012, the court said.

Lee joined the group in September the same year, gradually becoming a key member.

In November that year, after discussing with the others, Peng drafted a plan and established the goal of founding a political party and overthrowing the current political system in China.

A video grab from footage on the website of Yueyang Intermediate People's Court shows Lee Ming-cheh. /AFP Photo

They aimed to attract a million members by 2017.

From 2013, Lee and others set up several QQ groups, with membership reaching 2,000. Peng and Lee wrote articles and books and made videos online to attack the country's political system.

Lee also traveled to other cities on the Chinese mainland several times to take part in group gatherings. On March 19, 2017, he was put under coercive measures by the Hunan provincial security organ on suspicion of subverting state power.

In September this year, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said the investigation and trial of Lee had been conducted in accordance with the law and due process and the rights of Lee and his family had been fully protected.

A total of 30 people, including the defendants' close relatives, legislators, political advisors, journalists, and members of the public, attended the sentencing.

Videos of the sentence were published on the official Weibo account of the court.

The court allowed the defendants to meet with their families after the sentence, as per family requests.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency