Lawyer Xu Zhiyong has spent nearly two decades fighting for human rights in China, and on Monday he was handed one of the longest prison sentences ever issued for civil activism under Xi Jinping’s crackdown on dissent.

Xu was sentenced to 14 years in prison and his long-time partner and fellow rights lawyer, Ding Jiaxi, received a 12-year prison sentence for “subversion of state power,” according to Ding’s wife Luo Shengchun, who lives in the United States and has long campaigned for their release.

Monday’s sentencing came nearly a year after they were tried separately behind closed doors by a court in Shandong, on the grounds that their cases “involved state secrets.” Both pleaded not guilty to the subversion charges.

Xu, 50, and Ding, 55, were detained by authorities after attending a private gathering with other activists in the southeastern city of Xiamen in December 2019.

They were finally allowed to meet their lawyers roughly a year after first being detained.

In early 2021, as he was not allowed a paper and pen to write it himself, Xu dictated a statement to his lawyers to outline his conviction and visions for a democratic, free and just China.

A democratic China must be realized in our time, we cannot saddle the next generation with this duty,” Xu said in the statement, released by Luo days ahead of the pair’s sentencing.

Like their court hearings, the sentencing was shrouded in secrecy. Luo said she had been unable to get a copy of Xu and Ding’s verdicts from their defense lawyers.

“The lawyers are not allowed to speak to the media and strictly forbidden from sharing the court verdict – or they will have their practicing license revoked,” Luo said. (CNN)

•Xu Zhiyong, a Chinese civil rights activist and legal scholar, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for subversion. Greg Baker/AP