A Chinese court has jailed democracy advocate Chen Xi for 10 years, the second such sentencing within several days.

Chen, who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, was convicted of subverting state power and publishing online 36 articles criticizing the ruling Communist Party, the BBC reported. The sentence was handed down in a court in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province.

Chen's wife, Zhang Qunxuan, said her husband was innocent but he wouldn't appeal the conviction, since it would be "futile."

"Chen Xi told the court it did not take into consideration the things he has written as a whole and has interpreted his words out of context. But they have power and they don't listen, she said.

Chen has been in jail several times for criticizing the government and hosted a human rights forum in Guiyang.

The sentencing comes only several days after activist and writer Chen Wei was sentenced to prison by a court in Sichuan province.

Chen Wei, a former student leader in the 1990s, was sentenced to nine years in prison on similar charges of "inciting subversion of state power," specifically for posting online four articles he wrote criticizing the government. Chen Wei was involved in the drafting of articles on overseas Web sites, including Democratic China, Human Rights in China and China e-Weekly.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she was "deeply concerned" about the Chen Wei verdict.

Pillay also noted the sentencing of Chen Wei came a week after Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng was sentenced to three years in jail.

"The conviction and extremely harsh sentencing of Chen Wei indicates a further tightening of the severe restrictions on the scope of freedom of expression in China that has been seen over the last two years," Pillay said.

"This verdict, along with the court's decision of last week on Gao Zhisheng, are the latest examples of an escalating clamp down on the activities of human rights defenders in China. I call upon Chinese authorities to release any person detained for peacefully exercising his or her right to freedom of expression," Pillay said.

Beijing usually braces itself for international denunciations when it jails activists and last week a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that no country has a right to interfere in China's internal affairs and judicial sovereignty.

Spokesman Liu Weimin made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a European Union statement condemning the jailing of Zhisheng, the Chinese government news agency Xinhua reported. The office of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton had called on Beijing to release Zhisheng and publicize his situation and location.

Liu said the European Union should consider the longer term interests of European and Chinese relationships before issuing statements about convicted prisoners.

Zhisheng, 47, was on probation following a conviction inciting people to "overthrow state power," Xinhua reported.

In December 2006 he was sentenced to three years in prison with five years of probation and was deprived of his political rights for one year. But a statement from the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court last week said Zhisheng had violated the terms of his probation a number of times and has been returned to jail to serve three years.