The European Union issued a statement Tuesday (Dec. 29) urging Chinese authorities to immediately release citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was arrested and sentenced for covering the New Coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan.
On Dec. 28, the Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court sentenced Zhang to four years in prison for what it called “provocation and harassment. Zhang had been in Wuhan since early February to report on the local New Coronavirus outbreak before Shanghai police arrested him in Wuhan on May 14 across the province.
The EU statement said that during her detention by Shanghai police, Zhang Zhan was tortured and ill-treated, and that her health deteriorated so badly that she had to receive adequate medical assistance.
The EU statement stressed that restrictions on freedom of expression and access to information, intimidation and surveillance of journalists, and the detention, trial and sentencing of human rights defenders, lawyers and intellectuals by the Chinese authorities have increasingly become and will continue to be of major concern to the EU.
Zhang Zhan is the first citizen journalist to be given a heavy sentence by the Chinese authorities for reporting on the new coronavirus outbreak. Zhang Zhan is just one of at least 47 journalists currently detained in China,” the British Embassy in Beijing tweeted on Monday (Dec. 28). The whereabouts of other journalists, including Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin, are unknown.
Ms. Zhang Zhan, 37, has a master’s degree in finance from Southwest University of Finance and Economics, and is a Christian and citizen journalist. Zhang was a lawyer, but her license was revoked for her participation in human rights activities.
On April 19, 2019, Zhang was detained by the Shanghai Pudong police for 10 days for “provoking and provoking trouble.” On September 8, 2020, Zhang followed the example of the Umbrella Movement of Hong Kong people on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, with the slogan On September 8, 2020, Zhang Zhan was detained by the Shanghai police for over two months for “provocation and nuisance” after following the umbrella movement of Hong Kong people on Nanjing Road, carrying an umbrella that read “End Socialism, Step Down Communist Party” in solidarity with Hong Kong people’s protests. During his 65-day detention, Zhang was allegedly subjected to severe inhumane treatment. On Nov. 13 of that year, Pudong police detained Zhang for 10 days for “disturbing public order.
Earlier this year, after the outbreak of New Crown Pneumonia in Wuhan, Zhang arrived in Wuhan on February 1, and as a citizen, he covered the situation in depth, posting small videos on Youtube and tweeting about the situation on Twitter, until he was arrested by Shanghai police on May 14.
While in police custody, Zhang began a formal hunger strike in late June in protest of police torture, and was forcibly fed by police, leaving him in extremely poor health. Zhang Zhan’s lawyer, Ren Quanniu, said on his Weibo account on December 17 after meeting with Zhang Zhan that Zhang Zhan was “so thin that he has ‘lost his image’.
Zhang’s lawyers and family members fear that Zhang’s current health condition may prevent her from leaving prison alive.
The EU also called on Chinese authorities to release prominent human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng, whose sentence of four years in prison was upheld by the Jiangsu Provincial High Court on December 13. The EU statement said the Chinese court did not give Yu Wensheng’s defense attorney the opportunity to submit a defense statement in accordance with China’s Criminal Procedure Law.
In addition to Zhang Zhan and Yu Wensheng, the EU urged Chinese authorities to arrest and sentence other human rights defenders previously, including Li Yuxuan, Huang Qi, Ge Juping, Qin Yongmin, Gao Zhisheng, Ilham Tohti, Tashwanchuk, Wu Gan, Liu Feiyue, and others who have engaged in reporting activities in the public interest.
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