A Chinese court has sentenced a prominent activist known as the Ultra Vulgar Butcher to eight years in prison for subversion.

The Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court found activist Wu Gan guilty of subverting state power and handed down his sentence Tuesday.

Wu was among the first activists and lawyers caught up in an intense crackdown by authorities that began in 2015. His case was heard in court in August after detention of more than two years.

Vaguely defined subversion charges are frequently leveled against human rights activists and perceived political foes of China's ruling Communist Party.

Wu had become known for attention-grabbing campaigns. In one, he posed for online portraits brandishing knives that he said he would use to "slaughter the pigs" among local officials who'd done wrong.