A veteran Chinese language state media journalist has been sentenced by a Beijing courtroom to seven years in jail on espionage fees, his household has mentioned.
Dong Yuyu, a senior columnist on the Communist social gathering newspaper Guangming Day by day, was detained in February 2022 together with a Japanese diplomat at a Beijing restaurant.
The diplomat was launched after just a few hours of questioning, however Dong, 62, has been in custody ever since and was charged with spying final 12 months.
Dong’s work has been revealed within the Chinese language editions of the New York Instances and Monetary Instances. He received the distinguished Nieman Fellowship at Harvard College in 2006-07 and was additionally a visiting fellow at Keio College in Japan in 2010 and a visiting professor at Hokkaido College in 2014.
Based on the judgment, the Japanese diplomats Dong met, together with then ambassador Hideo Tarumi and present Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada, had been named as brokers of an “espionage organisation”, his household mentioned in an announcement.
“We’re shocked that the Chinese language authorities would blatantly deem a international embassy as an ‘espionage organisation’ and accuse the previous Japanese ambassador and his fellow diplomats of being spies,” the assertion added.
Beijing’s international ministry responded to Dong’s case by saying: “China is a rustic dominated by legislation.”
“Chinese language judicial authorities strictly deal with instances in accordance with the legislation, and those that violate the legislation and commit crimes can be investigated in accordance with the legislation,” spokesperson Mao Ning mentioned at a press convention on Friday.
The Japanese embassy mentioned it might not remark in regards to the case.
“In any case, the diplomatic actions of Japanese diplomatic missions overseas are carried out in a respectable method,” an embassy spokesperson mentioned in an e mail.
Ian Johnson, a author and buddy of Dong, mentioned the sentence “reveals that the federal government is attempting to ship a message that ordinary contacts with the surface world are undesirable. The federal government offered no proof that Mr Dong dedicated espionage. As an alternative, it made the doubtful argument that assembly with diplomats is in itself suspicious behaviour.”
Beneath Chinese language legislation, somebody convicted of espionage may be jailed for 3 to 10 years for much less extreme instances or obtain heavy punishment, together with life imprisonment, for critical instances.
Civil liberties and freedom of expression have dramatically receded in China below President Xi Jinping’s decade-long tenure. The Communist social gathering maintains tight restrictions on home media retailers, and Chinese language nationals who work with international retailers are routinely harassed.
China is the worst nation for jailing media employees, with 44 journalists behind bars as of December final 12 months, in accordance with a Committee to Defend Journalists rating.
Beh Lih Yi, the Asia programme coordinator of the Committee to Defend Journalists, mentioned: “Interacting with diplomats is a part of a journalist’s job. Jailing journalists on bogus and unjust fees like espionage is a travesty of justice.
“We condemn this unjust verdict, and name on the Chinese language authorities to guard the appropriate of journalists to work freely and safely in China. Dong Yuyu ought to be reunited together with his household instantly.”
In February, a Beijing courtroom handed a suspended dying sentence to the jailed dissident author Yang Hengjun after discovering the twin Chinese language-Australian citizen responsible on espionage fees.
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