A veteran Chinese dissident was sentenced to 12 years in jail for subversion Tuesday, his lawyer said, as five journalists were hauled before China's justice system on extortion charges.

Yang Tianshui, 45, who spent a decade in prison from 1990 to 2000, was jailed for another 12 years for organizing pro-democracy activities and posting anti-government articles on the Internet, his lawyer, Li Jianqiang, told AFP.

The Zhenjiang intermediate court in eastern China's Jiangsu province sentenced Yang, also known as Yang Tongyan, following a three-hour trial Tuesday, Li said.

"He was convicted of posting anti-government articles on the Internet, organizing branches of the (outlawed) China Democracy Party and accepting illegal funds from overseas.

"He pleaded innocent, he refused to acknowledge any guilt and said that the trial was illegal and was an insult." Li said

Yang's previous prison sentence was on charges of "counter-revolutionary" crimes.

Yan, a history graduate from Beijing Normal University, is well known in dissident circles for his political writings and his refusal to give up his belief in democracy.

He was arrested in December last year and formally charged in January.

Meanwhile, journalist Yang Xiaoqing went on trial Tuesday in a court in Hunan province on extortion charges in relation to investigations he had made into local corruption, his lawyer said.

"This morning character witnesses testified against Yang Xiaoqing," lawyer Zhang Xingshui told AFP.

Although trials are generally quick in China, Zhang said he did not expect a verdict to be reached Tuesday.

Zhang said that Yang would plead innocent to the charges.

Yang, 36, a reporter for the China Industrial Economy News, a newspaper run by the Communist Youth Party, was detained in January and formally charged with blackmail and extortion in late February.

He was charged after filing two reports last year alleging local officials in Longhui county sold a state-owned food company to a private individual at a hugely discounted price.

Yang alleged that the company was then re-sold at a much higher price with corrupt officials and their cronies making huge profits.

Authorities have accused Yang of trying to extort money from local officials over their involvement in the case, Zhang said.

Meanwhile, four journalists working for separate Beijing-based newspapers were arrested for investigating "irregularities" at state institutions and business and trying to extort money from them, Xinhua news agency reported.

The China Food Quality Newspaper, the China Business Times, the Economic Daily and the China Industrial News were involved in the alleged racketeering, the report said.

The administration further urged newspapers nationwide to better monitor the activities of their journalists, it said.

In yet another trial of a journalist that came to light Tuesday, the China Rights Defenders organization said Li Yuanlong, a reporter with the Bijie Daily in southwestern China's Guizhou province, appeared before a local court on May 11 on subversion charges.

He was charged after posting articles critical of the Chinese government on the Internet, the human rights group said. No verdict has yet been given in Li's trial, it said.

International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said this month that at least 32 journalists were in prison throughout China as of early this year.

The group criticized what it said was the Chinese government's sustained efforts to quash freedom of expression.