Media personality Zhang Jialong was sentenced to one and a half years in prison for his comments on Twitter

Media personality Zhang Jialong has been sentenced to one year and six months in prison for causing a disturbance because of comments he made on Twitter, an overseas rights protection website revealed on January 8.

Zhang was taken away from his home in Guiyang on August 12, 2019, and accused of “publishing and forwarding a large number of false information that defames the image of the Party, the country and the government” on Twitter. He was charged with causing a disturbance. Zhang Jialong’s case started on May 13, 2020, and it was nearly eight months before the court finally handed down the first instance verdict, which meant that he was expected to be released on the eve of the Chinese New Year (February 11, 2021). Mr Zhang said he would appeal.

Zhang Jialong, a 33-year-old native of Guiyang, Guizhou province, is a former reporter for Caijing magazine, a former media man for Tencent’s financial channel, an active online campaigner, blogger, democratic dissident, and a political prisoner in Chinese custody.