Lu, who was arrested in Laos, was charged with “illegally crossing the border” in a closed trial held in southwestern China.
Prominent Chinese rights lawyer Lu Siwei, who was arrested and deported from Laos in 2023, was sentenced behind closed doors in China to 11 months in prison on Friday, his wife told Radio Free Asia.
Lu, 52, who was accused of illegal border crossing, plans to appeal the sentence by the Chenghua District Court in Chengdu, southwestern Sichuan province, said his wife Zhang Chunxiao, who lives in the United States. The court also fined him 10,000 yuan ($1,370).
Despite holding a U.S. visa and Chinese passport, Lu was arrested in the Lao capital Vientiane in July 2023 while en route to join his family in America. He was detained in the Southeast Asian country for more than a month, before being forcibly repatriated to China.
An insurance attorney by profession, Lu is well known for taking on many politically sensitive cases, including defending one of the 12 Hong Kong activists jailed in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong after they were caught fleeing by boat to Taiwan in 2020.
He was stripped of his legal license in 2021, banned from international travel, and has faced repeated harassment and constant surveillance for his human rights activities.
Rights campaigners have said his arrest in Laos and forced repatriation illustrates the growing and oppressive reach of Chinese authorities beyond China’s borders, often referred to as transnational repression.
