China activist's verdict upheld

Chen 's earlier verdict has been upheld

A court in China has upheld a sentence of four years and three months in jail given to a prominent human rights activist, Chen Guangcheng.

Mr Chen, who is blind, was originally convicted in August of damaging property and disrupting traffic.

But that sentence was unexpectedly overturned due to what the court said were procedural violations, which led to a third hearing on Monday.

His supporters say the charges against him are politically-motivated.

Mr Chen, 35, has campaigned against what he says are abuses of the Chinese government's one-child policy.

His lawyer, Li Fangping, reacted angrily to the reimposition of the original prison term.

"This is an evil sentence, and we are very furious about," he told Reuters news agency.

Monday's retrial ended with another of Mr Chen's defence lawyers walking out in protest at key witnesses going missing.

Violations

Chen Guangcheng was originally sentenced to four years and three months in jail for "damaging property and organising a mob to disturb traffic".

The official Xinhua news agency reported that he had launched an attack on government offices and police cars in Yinan County, because he was upset with workers carrying out poverty relief programmes.

But Mr Chen's supporters said that local officials had fabricated these charges in order to punish him for exposing violations of China's one-child policy.

Mr Chen had accused local health workers in Linyi city, in Shandong province, of illegally forcing hundreds of people to have late-term abortions or sterilisations.

China brought in its one-child policy 27 years ago, in a drive to curb population growth, but forced sterilisation and abortion are prohibited.