Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old former lawyer and citizen journalist who was arrested in May while reporting on Wuhan, has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Zhang was arrested for “having disputes and causing trouble,” a charge commonly used against dissidents, activists and journalists, with her video reports and blogs of the Wuhan closure. Last month she was accused of spreading false information.
On Monday afternoon, just hours after the trial began, Zhang’s lawyer said she had been sentenced to four years in prison.
The persecution of ten Hong Kongers 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 scheduled with the Christmas period to prevent the western scrutiny.
The indictment released last week said Zhang had sent “false information via text, video and other means via Internet media such as WeChat, Twitter and YouTube,” according to the prosecution document.
“He also accepted interviews from foreign media Free Radio Asia and Epoch Times and maliciously speculated about the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan,” he said. A sentence of four to five years was recommended.
Zhang has been detained 24 hours a day and forcibly fed a tube after a hunger strike, her lawyer, Zhang Keke, said earlier this month. Zhang Keke visited him again on Christmas Day and, in a blog post, said that his client had lost 15 to 20 kg and that his hair had been cut.
“She feels psychologically exhausted, like every day is a torment.”
A dozen supporters and diplomats had gathered Monday morning in front of Shanghai Pudong’s new people’s court, but police turned 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 all his reports came from first-hand accounts with locals. Citizen journalist Fang Bin was arrested in February, but his location of detention remains secret. Chen Mei and Cai Wei are on trial in Beijing after being arrested in April for filing censored information about the virus.
Chen Qiushi, arrested in Wuhan in February, was released at his parents’ home under close surveillance.
The families of the ten Hong Kongers arrested after allegedly trying to reach Taiwan said they were only informed of the trial on Friday, without giving them time to travel to Shenzhen and complete their quarantine on time. The trial is not being broadcast live and the media appear unable to enter the courtroom, making it a “de facto secret trial,” the families said.
“By holding the trial of the 12 in secret, preventing the assistance of the media and families, the Chinese authorities ignore basic human rights and act against the principle of ‘judiciary’ that they have been promoting,” they said. in a statement this Monday.
RTHK reported from Shenzhen that court officials said the trial was open to the public, but all seats had already been reserved.
Prior to the trial, the U.S. State Department called for the group’s release, with an official saying his only “so-called crime” was “fleeing tyranny.”
The Yantian District People’s Court in Shenzhen announced last week that 10 of the 12 people allegedly traveling by boat to Taiwan when they were intercepted by Guangdong coastguards in August were accused of organizing or participating in a step illegal border. The remaining two are minors and would be tried later. Since their arrest, detainees had almost completely blocked contact with their families and had been banned from seeing their chosen lawyers.
Last-minute trials took place amid a downpour of activities by authorities targeting dissidents, lawyers and journalists. Chinese authorities have a history of using the holiday period, when many Western governments and NGOs are on Christmas holidays, to make judgments and arrest.
Additional reports from agencies.