Demonstrators hold placards showing portraits of Chinese journalist Gao Yu during a protest in support of her outside the China liaison office in Hong Kong on Friday (AFP Photo/Philippe Lopez)
Veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu was Friday sentenced to seven years in prison for leaking a Communist Party document outlining how to curb the influx of Western democracy and other foreign influences deemed a threat to state power.
Following a trial in November, the Beijing court had twice postponed a verdict before judging today that Gao, 71, had “illegally provided state secrets to foreigners”, according to a statement via social media.
Diplomats and journalists were denied entry to the hearing amid a heavy police presence outside of the Beijing courtroom.
Gao was first detained a year ago, and two weeks later appeared on state television — her face blurred and apparently bruised — delivering what her lawyers have since called a forced confession following lengthy interrogations in jail.
China has not identified the offending document but the verdict appeared to confirm Gao was found guilty of leaking ‘Document No. 9’, an internal party paper drawn up soon after President Xi Jinping came to power that backs restrictions on democracy, civil society and press freedom.
“The ultimate goal of advocating the West’s view of the media is to hawk the principle of abstract and absolute freedom of press, oppose the party’s leadership in the media, and gouge an opening through which to infiltrate ideology,” it reads.
Gao’s lawyers have appealed to a higher authority, the National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets, to judge whether Document No. 9 should be considered a state secret and, if so, at what security level.
The Hong Kong magazine alleged to have received the document, MinjingMonthly, issued a statement reiterating it already had a copy at the time Gao was accused of the leak.
“This unjust judgment of an outstanding Chinese journalist utterly destroys Xi Jinping’s commitment to ‘rule of law’,” the magazine said.
Amnesty International was similarly scathing of today’s judgment, saying that Gao had been the victim of an arbitrary state secrets law used as a tool to silence activists and journalists in China.
“Gao Yu is a prisoner of conscience, solely imprisoned for challenging the views of the government. She should be released immediately and unconditionally,” William Nee, Amnesty’s Hong Kong-based China researcher, said in a statement.
Gao had previously served six years in prison after she was found guilty of the same offense in 1993, although since then her health has deteriorated: she suffers from high blood pressure, heart problems and Meniere’s disease, an inner ear disorder that disrupts hearing and balance.
There are currently 44 journalists imprisoned in China, more than in any other country, according to Reporters Without Borders.