Uygur scholar Ilham Tohti accused of leading group of students in trying to split Chinese state
He faces at least 10 years in jail if convicted, but insists he has always been opposed to all kinds of ethnic hatred and secession of Xinjiang autonomous region from the country
Outspoken Uygur academic Ilham Tohti has been accused of leading a group of seven students in trying to split the Chinese state, his lawyer said.
Tohti was formally charged with separatism and may face at least 10 years in jail if convicted, his lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said today following a three-hour meeting with Tohti on Tuesday.
A conviction of separatism on the mainland could be punishable by death, but prosecutors in the region’s capital of Urumqi have charged him with an offence that carries a sentence of life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of at least 10 years, Liu said.
“Tohti’s defence remains that he was simply an intellectual who was a Uygur and concerned about society, especially problems about Xinjiang,” he said.
“He thinks expressing his own views on the issues was not unusual, and had nothing to do with separatism,” Liu said.