Zhao's former aide jailed

PEKING (AFP) - Bao Tong, a senior aide to the deposed Chinese Communist Party secretary-general, Zhao Ziyang, was jailed for nine years yesterday and deprived of his civil rights for two years, his family said.

Mr Bao, 59, was sentenced by the People's Intermediate Court to five years' imprisonment for 'inciting counter-revolutionary activities' and four years for 'divulging state secrets'. However, the court is reported to have reduced the sentence to seven years as a goodwill gesture.

The trial of the most senior figure detained after the political turmoil surrounding the crushing of the pro-democracy movement in June 1989 opened yesterday morning and ended early in the afternoon. Mr Bao will appeal against the sentence, his family said.