Lawyer Mo Shaoping said Beijing police had presented prosecutors on Tuesday with a report on Liu, who has been accused of subversion, after detaining him for exactly one year. The report alleged that Liu had incited subversion through six of his pro-democracy articles published online, and by co-drafting the "Charter 08" manifesto, Mo said.

"The report said his crime was particularly serious," Mo said yesterday, which was International Human Rights Day. Other cases similarly labelled had attracted jail terms of between five and 15 years.

Prosecutors yesterday interviewed Liu in jail, Mo said. He dismissed a report from Hong Kong's Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy claiming Liu might be released as his case had been rejected twice by prosecutors.

Mo said there was no dispute over the facts in Liu's case. He had confessed to writing the essays and his leading role in Charter 08. But his lawyers consider the writings within his right to freedom of speech, which is protected under the constitution.

"The dispute [between lawyers and investigators] is over the application of the law and what to make of what he has done. We think he is entitled to freedom of speech and expression," Mo said.

Liu, one of the charter's authors, was detained on December 8 last year, two days before the document was published, but was only officially arrested in June. The publication date was to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and International Human Rights Day.

Liu's wife, Liu Xia , who had not been allowed to visit her husband since March 20, said she feared he might be given a long jail term.

"Yes I'm worried and I'm prepared for the worst," she said in a phone interview.

Liu has been jailed three times before. His arrest over Charter 08, which calls for an end to a one-party rule and sweeping political reforms, sparked international outcry and public protests in Hong Kong.