BEIJING — A Tibetan businessman who campaigned to preserve his native language from the encroaching dominance of Chinese was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday, after a controversial prosecution based on interviews that he gave to The New York Times.

The businessman, Tashi Wangchuk, heard the verdict in Yushu, a heavily Tibetan town in Qinghai province, his defense lawyers, Liang Xiaojun and Lin Qilei, said by telephone. Tashi had warned that there and across many historically Tibetan areas in China, the Tibetan language was threatened by official policies to make Mandarin Chinese the language of schooling and government.

Tashi, 33, was arrested in early 2016, two months after he was featured in a New York Times video and article about Tibetan language education. He stood trial in January this year, charged with inciting separatism for comments he had made to the Times. His prison term will start from the time of his arrest, meaning that he will be due for release in early 2021, his lawyers said.

“Tashi already told us before the verdict that he wanted to appeal if he was found guilty,’’ Lin said. The two lawyers were not at the hearing, but said Tashi’s family told them of the verdict.

NEW YORK TIMES