China’s renowned environmental reporter Liu Futang was sentenced to a 3 year probation against the backdrop of the ruling Communist Party’s increasing emphasis on “Ecological Civilisation”.

The veteran environmentalist was found guilty by the local court in South China Hainan Province for “illegal business activities” and fined £1,700 last Wednesday.

The prosecutors claimed Liu had profited illegally from his self-publishing books despite that Liu gave away most of his books for free. The trial against Liu opened in October was believed to be a political retaliation as Liu’s books exposed environmental degradations caused by government-backed projects.

Wednesday’s conviction, came only weeks after 18th Party Congress’s high profile advocacy of building a “Ecological Civilisation”, is believed to effectively silence the vocal environmentalist.

The self-contradicted act has casted shadow on China’s environmental commitment and worried China’s green activists.
Feng Yongfeng, founder of the Beijing-based NGO Green Beagle, regretted that the…