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A local court in China's Henan province has handed a jail term of over a year to an online influencer after he posted several critical comments about life under the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Twitter.
Chen Shaotian was sentenced 14-month prison term by a local court that found him guilty of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble", a charge frequently used to target critics of the regime, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported. Chen's sentence, which was issued on March 25, was based on more than 50 posts he made to Twitter that were deemed to be "hype about major sensitive events in China" and "political attacks". According to the judgment, Chen's tweets had "attacked China's political system, insulted employees of the state, caused serious damage to China's national image and endangered its national interests." Reacting to the arbitrary arrest, activist Ji Feng said Chen isn't a dissident in the strict sense as he doesn't advocate any political or philosophical alternative to CCP rule, RFA reported. "He lacks a systematic politics, and he has no deeply held position," Ji said. "It's all about dissatisfaction with the current reality." Twitter is blocked in China; however, scores of Chinese citizen circumvent the block to use it. Moreover, major Chinese companies and national media use Twitter through a government-approved virtual private network. (ANI)
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