By Laurie Chen and James Pomfret
BEIJING (Reuters) -A Beijing courtroom sentenced veteran Chinese language state media journalist Dong Yuyu on Friday to seven years in jail for espionage, a member of the family advised Reuters.
Former Guangming Day by day editor and journalist Dong Yuyu, 62, was detained by police in Beijing in February 2022 whereas having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, in line with an announcement from the U.S. Nationwide Press Membership, and later charged with espionage.
There was a heavy police presence exterior Beijing’s No. 2 Intermediate Folks’s Court docket, with at the very least 7 police vehicles parked close by. Reuters journalists had been requested to depart the world.
A U.S. diplomat advised Reuters that they’d been barred from attending the listening to.
Dong has been detained in a Beijing jail awaiting the decision since a closed-court listening to in July 2023, the press membership mentioned in September.
He repeatedly had in-person exchanges with international diplomats from numerous embassies and journalists. The Japanese diplomat he met was additionally detained for a number of hours, triggering a robust grievance from the Japanese international ministry.
A Chinese language international ministry spokesperson mentioned on the time that the diplomat was engaged in actions “inconsistent with their capability” in China. The diplomat was later launched.
Dong participated within the prestigious Harvard Nieman Fellowship and was a visiting scholar and visiting professor at Keio College and Hokkaido College in Japan, in line with a household assertion in April 2023.
He joined the Communist Get together-affiliated Guangming Day by day in 1987 after graduating from Peking College legislation faculty, and was the deputy editor of its commentary part.
He had written opinion articles in Chinese language media and liberal tutorial journals on matters from authorized reforms to social points, and co-edited a e-book selling the rule of legislation in China. His articles advocated average reforms whereas avoiding direct criticism of Chinese language President Xi Jinping.
His household had initially stored information of his detention non-public within the hope that expenses could possibly be lowered or dropped however had been notified in March 2023 that his case could be despatched to trial, their assertion mentioned.
A number of press freedom non-government organisations (NGO) have referred to as for his launch. A web-based petition for his launch has collected over 700 signatures from journalists, teachers and NGO staff.
“Dong Yuyu is a proficient reporter and creator whose work has lengthy been revered by colleagues at house and overseas,” mentioned Ann Marie Lipinski, curator of the Nieman Basis for Journalism at Harvard College. “We stand with many in hoping for his launch and return to his household.”
The Australian author and pro-democracy blogger Yang Hengjun was handed a suspended dying sentence on espionage expenses by a Beijing courtroom in February.
