European Union calls for immediate release of Chinese journalist who reported on COVID-19 in Wuhan

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Brussels – The European Union (EU) on Tuesday called for the “immediate” release of Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, whom a Shanghai court yesterday sentenced to four years in prison for its coverage in the early days of VOCID-19 in Wuhan City.

“The EU calls for the immediate release of Ms Zhang Zhan,” said the spokesman for the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, who extended the demand to a dozen lawyers and defenders. of human rights who are currently also in prison in China.

Zhang had been in pretrial detention since her arrest last May and was convicted yesterday of “causing riots and creating problems.”

The spokesman added that “according to credible sources, Ms. Zhang has been subjected to torture and ill-treatment during her detention and her health has seriously deteriorated,” so it is “crucial,” she said, to receive medical assistance. .

According to official documents released in November, the journalist was accused of distributing “false information” on social networks such as Twitter, Youtube or Wechat (Chinese WhatsApp) and granting interviews to foreign media.

Previously, Zhang had already been arrested last year for supporting protests in Hong Kong.

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