or-politics.com
November 26, 2015
A veteran Chinese journalist convicted in April for leaking secrets had her sentence reduced to five years from seven years, one of her lawyers said. Her lawyer Shang Baojun said the court announced Thursday that her sentence would be reduced.
Ms Gao’s charges stem from accusations she provided the Communist Party document, widely referred to as “Document No. 9″, to Mirror Media Group, an overseas Chinese-language news organisation. The document revealed the Party’s ideological battle plan to counter advocates of constitutional democracy, banning public discussions on topics ranging from press freedom, civil rights to judicial independence.
The court heard Gao’s appeal behind closed doors on Tuesday. He added that he would continue seeking to have her released on medical parole. State security prevented foreign journalists and about 10 diplomats from standing near the court, and wrestled to the ground a woman who shouted slogans in support of Gao.
“There is no defense against state secret charges in China, anything the Party or the government want to label as state secrets will be labeled and treated as such – they can even do it retroactively”, Nicholas Bequelin, the Hong Kong-based East Asia director of Amnesty global, said in April when Gao was first sentenced. The journalist’s brother, Gao Wei, said after the appeal verdict that he wished the court had overturned the conviction and set her free.
“Taking into account the fact that she’s already 71, from this perspective, we are not satisfied (with the sentence reduction)”. At her trial in November previous year, Ms Gao said a confession, which was broadcast on national television, had been made under duress, with implicit threats made against her adult son, Zhao Meng, who was detained at the same time as her.
Since freed, Mr Zhao attended Thursday’s appeal verdict, according to her lawyers. Since Xi took power more than two years ago, his government has jailed human rights activists and lawyers across China despite rising worldwide concern. She was locked up for 15 months on the eve of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 and was detained again in 1993 and later given a six-year jail term for leaking state secrets in her writing on politics. 71-yr-old Chinese journalist convicted of ‘leaking state secrets’ has sentence
