Xu Zhiyong's fight for a freer society

Xu Zhiyong said that he wasn't afraid of jail.

"For the world to become a better place, someone has to pay a price," Xu said in a phone interview in late November 2012. "I think it's glorious to sacrifice for the sake of social progress and fighting injustice."

Days earlier, he had posted on his blog an impassioned open letter to new Communist Party chief Xi Jinping , attacking dictatorship, corruption and injustice under one-party rule.

There was little public reaction. But nine days later, police detained him for nearly 40 hours.

Xu, 40, a law lecturer at Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, founded the New Citizen movement in May 2012 to push for social equality and a fair legal system. In Beijing eight months later, fellow activists staged their first rally demanding state officials disclose their financial affairs.

Xu continued to protest with migrants who were asking that their children be schooled in Beijing. But the authorities saw these activities as a threat and within months Xu's words about freedom would prove prophetic.

He was detained under house arrest in April last year and formally arrested in August. Police accused him of "organising, masterminding and implementing" at least seven protests last year.