BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhuanet) -- "Blade" star Wesley Snipes should serve a maximum three-years prison term and be fined 5 million U.S. dollars over tax evasion charges, U.S. prosecutors said.

    In court papers filed on Monday but made public Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill said Snipes deserved the harshest sentence due to years of "brazen defiance" and "insidious concealment."

    "This case cries out for the statutory maximum term of imprisonment, as well as a substantial fine, because of the seriousness of defendant Snipes' crimes and because of the singular opportunity this case presents to deter tax crime nationwide," O'Neill wrote.

    The 45-year-old actor was convicted in February on three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file federal tax returns for 1999-2001. Each count carries a maximum sentence of one year. He was acquitted on two felony charges of filing false claims and fraud in seeking millions of dollars of refunds in other tax years.

    Two men affiliated with American Rights Litigators/Guiding Light of God ministries, a Florida-based tax protest organization, were convicted at the same trial, on conspiracy to defraud and false-claims charges.

    Snipes won't be formally sentenced until April 24.

    (Agencies)