China has freed a prominent human rights lawyer on bail, Amnesty International said Wednesday, after he admitted to his crimes in what critics called a show trial.

Xie Yang, who had worked on cases considered politically sensitive by China's ruling Communist Party, was among hundreds of legal staff and activists detained in the so-called "709 crackdown" in 2015.

He pleaded guilty Monday to charges of "inciting subversion of state power" during a one-day trial in central China.

The rights group said Xie was released on bail even though a verdict had not been announced, describing the sequence of events as "unusual".

"While it is a relief that Xie Yang is no longer in detention, it doesn't diminish the fact that he should never have been arrested in the first place," said Amnesty International's China researcher Patrick Poon.

Neither Xie's wife nor his lawyers were able to confirm his release to AFP.

Xie previously claimed that police had subjected him to "sleep deprivation, long interrogations, beatings, death threats, humiliations".

But he told Changsha Intermediate People's Court that authorities had upheld his rights and that he had not been subjected to torture of any kind.

The United States and the European Union have voiced concern over his case.

Eleven countries, including Canada, Australia and Switzerland, have cited Xie's case in a letter to Beijing criticising China's detention practices.

Xie's wife has fled China and is currently in the United States where she told AFP she was hoping to obtain asylum for herself and their two daughters.

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Chinese court says prominent rights lawyer pleads guilty
Beijing (AFP) May 8, 2017
A leading Chinese human rights lawyer whose case has drawn international scrutiny pleaded guilty Monday to charges of "inciting subversion of state power" in what critics called a "show trial." Xie Yang, who had worked on cases considered politically sensitive by China's ruling Communist Party, was among hundreds of legal staff and activists detained in the so-called "709 crackdown" in the s ... read more

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