article_snippet.sent: Intermediate People's Court said on a verified social media account today.
article_snippet.sent: China's current President Xi Jinping has overseen a harsh crackdown against critics of the ruling Communist Party, with scores of journalists, lawyers and academics detained and dozens jailed .
article_snippet.sent: Chinese courts are tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party and more than 99 percent of defendants are convicted, with appeals rarely successful.
article_snippet.sent: The Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court.
article_snippet.sent: China's current President Xi Jinping has overseen a harsh crackdown against critics of the ruling Communist Party, with scores of journalists, lawyers and academics detained and dozens jailed.
article_snippet.sent: A truck is buried in by protesters as A truck makes A truck way through the crowds in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, at a pro-democracy rally in May 1989. 
article_snippet.sent: The verdict was 'another blow to free expression and press freedom in China', The verdict added.
article_snippet.sent: Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the case had been handled 'in accordance with the law'. '
article_snippet.sent: This is a matter of China's internal sovereignty,' Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters.
article_snippet.sent: Ahead of the ruling, France-based Reporters
article_snippet.sent: Without Borders said it would be a gauge of 'how far the Chinese authorities are ready to go in order to suppress those who speak with an independent voice'.
article_snippet.sent: free speech group PEN International ranked China 176th out of 180 countries in free speech group PEN International 2015 Press Freedom Index.