BEIJING, DEC 27: A Chinese court sentenced four leaders of the banned spiritual movement Falun Gong to up to 18 years in prison on Sunday for a range of charges, including leaking state secrets, the official Xinhua news agency said.Security was tight in and around the intermediate people's court in western Beijing when the court handed down the sentences to Li Chang, Wang Zhiwen, Ji Liewu and Yao Jie.The defendants have 10 days to appeal.Li, 59, a former deputy director of the public security ministry, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of illegally obtaining state secrets and using a cult to undermine the law and cause human deaths, Xinhua said.Wang, 50, a former railways ministry official, and Ji, 36, a former manager of a state-owned non-ferrous metals company in Hong Kong, were sentenced to 16 and 12 years in prison respectively, it said. Yao Jie, a 40-year-old woman who worked at a real estate firm, received a seven-year prison sentence, Xinhua said.The four communist partymembers were found guilty of ``organising and using a cult organisation to undermine the implementation of laws, causing human deaths by organising and using the cult organisation and illegally obtaining state secrets''.The group organised 78 illegal gatherings of Falun Gong adherents and distributed information in 37 secret documents concerning the governments plans to crack down on the hugely popular meditation and martial arts movement, a television report said.The four were tried and sentenced during closed proceedings under heavy police guard to prevent Falun Gong adherents from protesting the trial that had previously been twice delayed.The four were considered the driving force behind an April protest by 10,000 Falun Gong practioners who silently besieged the central leadership compound in Beijing to demand the right to practice their characteristic slow-motion martial arts exercises and meditation.
