Hong Kong journalists plead guilty to running illegal publication business in mainland China
Two industry veterans on trial over selling political affairs magazines in Shenzhen, but defence says Hong Kong sales wrongly included
A pair of Hong Kong journalists behind two political affairs magazines have pleaded guilty to running an illegal business in Shenzhen in a case that underlines the legal risks facing reporters who straddle the border.
Publisher Wang Jianmin and editor-in-chief Guo Zhongxiao appeared before Nanshan district court yesterday.
Prosecutors said their company National Affairs Limited, registered in Hong Kong, had earned HK$7 million through the publication of two magazines, New-Way Monthly and Multiple Face.
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Both are printed in Hong Kong but copies are sent to eight people on the mainland, all friends of the publisher, the defence said.
The mainland audience accounted for 66,000 yuan (HK$80,600) of total revenue, less than half the 150,000 yuan minimum needed to raise the offence to the level of running an illegal business.
The prosecution wrongly counted Hong Kong revenue as part of the mainland business to make their case, lawyers argued.
Wang, 62, and Guo, 40, are Hong Kong ID holders but were living in Shenzhen when arrested in May. They made weekly, sometimes daily, trips across the border.