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A “citizen journalist”, detained after having covered the establishment of the quarantine in Wuhan at the beginning of the year, was sentenced this Monday to 4 years in prison, According to his lawyer, a year after the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in that city in central China.
Condemnation of Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old ex-lawyer, was handed down by a court in Shanghai (east) for “causing riots” after a process that lasted several hours, Ren Quanniu, one of her lawyers, told reporters.
“She seemed very dejected when the ruling was announced,” she told AFP.
The terminology “provoking riot” is often used against opponents of President Xi Jinping’s regime.
Specifically, the court accuses her of spreading false information over the internet, another of her lawyers, Zhang Keke, told AFP. In articles posted online, Zhang denounced the confinement imposed in Wuhan and referred to a “gross violation of human rights.”
A dozen foreign diplomats and supporters of this former lawyer waited to enter the Shanghai court, but the police blocked them, as well as journalists.
According to the official balance, in the metropolis of 11 million inhabitants there were close to 4,000 deaths from covid-19, that is, almost all of the 4,634 deaths recorded throughout China between January and May.
Since then, the number of deaths at the national level has not been evaluated.
China’s initial response to the epidemic has come under fire, as Beijing did not quarantine Wuhan and its region until January 23, despite cases since early December 2019.
At the same time, the doctors who mentioned the appearance of a mysterious virus were questioned by the police, who accused them of “spreading rumors”.
Three other citizen journalists, Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua, were also arrested after covering these events. The AFP was unable to contact his lawyers.
