Abstract
BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese journalist who wrote about suspected wrongdoing
by local officials has been jailed for four years, one of his lawyers
said Thursday.
Qi Chonghuai was sentenced Tuesday on charges of extortion and blackmail
after a daylong trial in Tengzhou in Shandong province, lawyer Li
Chunfu said.
Qi had been accused of extorting money from local officials during
his reporting, but he denied the charges.
"Mentally he's stable, and he said he'll appeal," Li said, adding
that he had visited Qi in detention Wednesday. Qi told his lawyers
that two police officers banged his head against the floor during
a midday break during the trial.
A freelance journalist who worked with Qi on his reports, He Yanjie,
was also jailed Tuesday for two years on extortion and blackmail
charges, Li said.
A phone call to Tengzhou City Court in Shandong province was not answered
Thursday.
"The court's decision was merely based on 29 people's accounts, but
all of them failed to show up at the court, which is a violation
of the law," Li said. "I believe they don't dare to show up because
their accounts are full of faults."
Qi's wife, Jiao Xia, shouted a sarcastic comment during a midday break
in the trial and was immediately taken out of the courtroom, Li said.
She shouted "Well done, Qi! You have blackmailed the government and
police!" After she was removed, Qi protested and was taken out as
well, Li said.
At least 26 Chinese journalists are in prison in China for their work,
the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement
released Tuesday in support of Qi.
"We condemn Qi Chonghuai's sentence and the brutal treatment he has
received throughout his detention," CPJ Asia Program Coordinator
Bob Dietz said in the statement.
China jails the largest number of journalists, cyber dissidents, Internet
users and activists for freedom of expression, a report by the Paris-based
Reporters Without Borders said in February.
Qi wrote for several print and online media. He was arrested in June
2007 soon after writing a story saying a Tengzhou official had beaten
a woman for coming late to work and after posting photos on a state-run
anti-corruption Web site of a fancy Tengzhou government building,
the CPJ statement said.
Qi's article on the beating was published by the Web site of Epoch
Times, a U.S.-based newspaper linked to the banned Chinese sect Falun
Gong, the CPJ statement said.
Qi said he was beaten and threatened during his detention after being
arrested in August 2007, a statement from the overseas-based Chinese
Human Rights Defenders released Wednesday said.
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