Hopes of lighter sentence, medical parole for Chinese journalist Gao Yu in state secrets case appeal
Veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu, who is appealing against her seven-year jail term on state secret charges, could be given a lighter sentence or medical parole when the outcome of her appeal is announced on Thursday, her lawyer said on Tuesday.
Gao, 71, who suffers from heart problems and high blood pressure, had her appeal heard in court on Tuesday morning.
“It is possible that she could be given a lighter sentence,” lawyer Mo Shaoping said.
“And based on the fact that she is elderly and in ill health, there is also a possibility that her sentence could be served outside jail.”
READ MORE: Veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu jailed for seven years for leaking state secrets
Gao was convicted and sentenced in April for “illegally leaking state secrets abroad” – a charge often used to jail journalists on the mainland. She has been detained by police since April last year.
The appeal hearing at the Beijing Higher People’s Court on Tuesday lasted one hour, during which Gao made a statement in her own defence and answered questions from the judge and her lawyers, according to Gao’s other lawyer, Shang Baojun.
Gao was in “reasonable” health and able to cope with the court proceedings, Shang said.
Shang declined to give details of the content of Gao’s defence, saying it was a closed-door hearing and he was bound by confidentiality rules.
Shang said lawyers presented new evidence at the hearing but declined to elaborate. It is rare for a Chinese court to hold an appeal hearing, and a hearing usually indicates a change in the original sentence.
Gao’s appeal hearing was previously scheduled to take place in July.
Her lawyers said at the time the authorities were trying to persuade Gao to plead guilty on a lesser charge even though she had insisted on her innocence.
Gao was made to confess on state television in May last year, but she retracted her confession during her trial the following November, saying it was extracted under coercion in order to secure the release of her son, who was detained along with her at the time.
READ MORE: Fears over deteriorating health of veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu jailed for leaking state secrets
When she was sentenced in April, the court verdict alleged that she had sent an electronic version of a photocopy of a Communist Party circular known as Document No 9 to the US-based Chinese-language news website Mingjing in 2013.
Mingjing founder Ho Pin denied this was the case, saying the site was given the document by someone from the party’s propaganda authorities to counter other incorrect versions circulated online.
Document No 9 ordered cadres to tackle seven subversive influences on society, including “Western constitutional democracy” and “universal values” such as human rights and free speech.
Gao’s brother Gao Wei said his sister was hospitalised for about a week last month, but he believed her health was improving as she was now on Western medication. She was previously given only Chinese medicines.
Gao has a long history of heart disease, high blood pressure and a chronic skin allergy.
She is also suffering from Ménière’s disease – a disorder of the inner ear that causes dizziness and intermittent hearing loss.
“It’s better if [the court case] can be over quickly so she can have her illnesses treated as soon as possible,” Gao Wei said.
The journalist, known for her hard-hitting reports on elite politics, has been jailed twice before. She was locked up for 15 months on the eve of the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, and jailed again in 1993 for six years for leaking state secrets in her writing on politics.
