Publisher Geng Xiaonan Jailed For Three Years

A Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced prominent publisher Geng Xiaonan to three years in prison after she confessed to conducting "illegal business operations", RTHK has learnt.

According to the live stream of the court proceedings, Geng said she pleaded guilty to the charges and offered her apologies to society, adding that all the evidence were "very true".

Geng, 46, was arrested last September for publishing thousands of illegal titles.

She had spoken in defence of dissident academic Xu Zhangrun, a vocal critic of mainland authorities and President Xi Jinping.

During the court proceedings, Geng said she was the only decision-maker of her publishing company and all her colleagues, including her husband, had acted only according to her instructions.

Her husband, meanwhile, was given a sentence of two-and-a-half years, suspended for three years.

Geng pleaded for leniency, saying she had no previous criminal records, did not have any real intention to commit crimes and did not harm anybody.

She also said she needs to take care of her ailing, elderly father, and that she may not be able to be with him in the last years of his life if she is sentenced to a long prison term.