ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512140055
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-15 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEIJING
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
Supporters and family of dissident Wei Jingsheng, sentenced to 14 years in prison Wednesday for ``conspiring to subvert the government,'' appealed for foreign pressure on China's political leadership to win the release of the country's leading democracy advocate.
Wei, 45, was convicted Wednesday after a five-hour trial in which government prosecutors accused him of plotting to overthrow the government, illegally soliciting foreign funds to establish a ``Democracy Movement Bank,'' illegally publishing articles in foreign publications, giving financial support to anti-government factions and ``advocating Tibetan independence.''
Wei was given 10 days to appeal his conviction. Family members and other supporters called for concerted pressure on the Beijing government - including raising the possibility of economic sanctions - during this period.
``If within these 10 days the international community levels the same kind of severe criticism as it did after Tiananmen Square, then he has a chance to be freed,'' sister Wei Shanshan Blank said in a telephone interview from Washington.
The United States condemned Wei's conviction and urged clemency from the Beijing government.
White House press secretary Mike McCurry said the United States would raise the case with Chinese officials and join other nations in bringing pressure on China.
``China's image is going to suffer dearly ... and perhaps will be beyond fixing,'' said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., chairman of the House subcommittee on international operations and human rights.
Speaking at a news conference with Wei Shanshan Blank, Smith also lambasted the American business community in China for its ``complicity'' by being ``abysmally silent'' on the issue of human rights.
``Is money more important than freedom of conscience?'' asked Wei Shanshan Blank, who spoke at the news conference through an interpreter.
International human rights organizations joined in the chorus of condemnation.
``Only the personal intervention of President Clinton and other world leaders may save Wei now,'' said a statement from New York-based Human Rights Watch. ``The next few days will be critical as Beijing waits to see if it will pay any political or economic price for silencing Wei.''
Some of Wei's supporters hope his harsh sentence can be replaced by an internationally brokered exile.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB