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China to Hear Plea

BEIJING () -- The Beijing Higher People's Court will hear Thursday the appeal of dissident Wei Jingsheng against a 14-year jail term for conspiring to subvert the government, his family said Wednesday.


"They informed us that we should go to the court at nine in the morning," a family member said in a telephone interview. "They said they would announce a verdict."


The court was expected to review evidence and other documents, after which it could uphold the lower court verdict and sentence, cut the sentence or order a retrial, Chinese lawyers said.


Wei, 45, a 1995 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, was convicted December 13 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for conspiring to subvert the government.

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