Lee, a community college lecturer and an activist at a human rights non-governmental organization in Taiwan, went missing while on a trip to China in March. Chinese authorities later charged him with subverting state power.
In the first hearing of Lee’s case in September, he confessed to subversion, according to videos of the hearing, though his wife refused to recognize the court’s authority.
A verdict of five years imprisonment was handed to Lee by the court for subversion of state power, according to a video of his proceedings released on social media by the Yueyang City Intermediate People’s Court in central Hunan province.
Mainland Chinese rights activist Peng Yuhua, who was also tried alongside Lee, was handed a seven-year sentence for the same crime.
Peng had been the instigator of subversion, while Lee had been an active participant, the court authorities said in the video.
Both Lee and Peng said that they accepted the ruling and would not appeal the ruling, according to the video.