Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer and citizen journalist who was arrested in May while reporting on Wuhan, was sentenced to four years in prison.
Zhang was arrested for “provoking fights and causing problems” – a charge commonly used against dissidents, activists and journalists – with his video and blog reports about the Wuhan blockade. Last month, she was accused of divulging false information.
On Monday afternoon, just hours after the trial began, Zhang’s lawyer said she was sentenced to four years in prison.
The indictment of 10 Hong Kong people detained in mainland China after allegedly trying to flee to Taiwan also began on Monday, amid a wave of arrests and other crackdowns on dissidents, apparently synchronized with the Christmas period to avoid scrutiny. western.
The charge sheet released last week says that Zhang sent “false information via text, video and other media via the Internet, such as WeChat, Twitter and YouTube,” according to the indictment document.
“She also accepted interviews from foreign media Free Radio Asia and the Epoch Times and maliciously speculated about the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan,” the newspaper said. A sentence of four to five years is recommended.
Zhang was contained 24 hours a day and forcibly fed with a tube after she went on a hunger strike, said her lawyer, Zhang Keke, earlier this month. Zhang Keke visited him again on Christmas Day and, in a blog post, said his client had lost 15 to 20 kilos and his hair had been cut.
“She feels psychologically exhausted, as if every day is a torment.”
About a dozen supporters and diplomats gathered in front of the new Shanghai Pudong district people’s court on Monday morning, but the police pushed journalists and observers away from the entrance when Zhang and his lawyer arrived.
Zhang – one of several citizen journalists detained in Wuhan at the same time – denies the charges and says that all of his reports were from first-hand reports with local residents. A fellow citizen journalist, Fang Bin, was arrested in February, but his place of detention remains secret. Chen Mei and Cai Wei await trial in Beijing after they were arrested in April for archiving censored information about the virus.
Chen Qiushi, detained in Wuhan in February, was released at his parents’ home under close surveillance.
Families of the 10 Hong Kong residents detained after allegedly trying to reach Taiwan said they were only informed of the trial on Friday, which did not give them time to travel to Shenzhen and complete the quarantine in time to appear. The trial is not being broadcast live, and the media appears unable to enter the courtroom, making it a “de facto secret trial”, the families said.
“By keeping the trial of the 12 secret, preventing the participation of the media and families, Chinese authorities are disrespecting basic human rights, acting against the ‘brilliant judiciary’ principle they have been promoting,” they said in a statement on Monday. -market .
RTHK reported from Shenzhen that court officials said the trial was open to the public, but all seats had already been reserved.
Before the trial, the United States Department of State asked for the group’s release, with an official saying that his only “alleged crime” was “fleeing tyranny.”
The Yantian District People’s Court in Shenzhen announced last week that 10 of the 12 people who allegedly were traveling by boat to Taiwan when they were intercepted by the Guangdong coast guard in August were accused of organizing or participating in an illegal border crossing. The remaining two are minors and will be tried later. Since their arrest, detainees have been almost entirely prevented from contacting their families and prevented from seeing the chosen lawyers.
The last-minute trials came amid a flurry of activity by officials targeting dissidents, lawyers and journalists. Chinese officials have a history of using the vacation period, when many western governments and NGOs are on Christmas holidays, to make trials and make arrests.
Additional reporting by agencies.