Veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu to be sentenced on Friday for ‘leaking state secrets’
Staunch critic of government, 71-year-old Gao has been held in remand almost a year to the day and faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted
Veteran journalist Gao Yu, famed for her hard-hitting reports on elite politics, will be sentenced on Friday in what many worry will be another political sentencing to muzzle the voices of government critics in the current wave of crackdowns.
Gao, 71, stood trial in a Beijing court in November, accused of revealing state secrets – a charge she consistently denied but often used to jail journalists on the mainland.
The Beijing No3 Intermediate Court has twice postponed delivering a verdict after her trial and her lawyer Shang Baojun said he was surprised when he was informed earlier this week that she would be sentenced as soon as Friday.
He said Gao, who suffers from high blood pressure and heart disease, wanted the court to release her because she insisted she was innocent.
Gao has been detained since April 24 last year on suspicion of “leaking state secrets abroad”. Last year, state media alleged she had “illegally obtained a secret central (party) document and provided it to [an] overseas website”.
The document in question is believed to be a party circular known as Document No9 that ordered cadres to tackle seven subversive influences on society, including “Western constitutional democracy” and “universal values” such as human rights and free speech.
She was forced to make a confession on state television last May but later told prosecutors it was extracted under coercion when threats were made against her son.