Chinese columnist sentenced to seven years in prison for contacts with Japanese diplomats

An archive photo of Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu, sentenced to seven years in prison for “espionage”, November 29, 2024. COURTESY OF THE FAMILY OF CHINESE JOURNALIST DONG YUYU/AFP The risk that Chinese citizens run when meeting foreign diplomats becomes more and more obvious over the course of the trials. On Friday, November 29, a Beijing court sentenced a journalist from the official press to seven years in prison for “espionage” due to his contacts with Japanese diplomats in China. Dong Yuyu, columnist for Clarity Daily, one of the major publications of the Chinese Communist Party, was arrested in February 2022 during a lunch with a Japanese diplomat. The latter was detained and questioned before being released. “Today’s verdict is a grave injustice not only to Yuyu and his family, but also to all free-thinking Chinese journalists and every ordinary Chinese citizen committed to friendly contact with the rest of the world. world,” denounce those close to him in a press release. They add that visits from his lawyers and the awareness of support from the outside world helped the journalist not waver during his two and a half years in detention awaiting his sentence. They note that the judgment qualifies the Japanese ambassador at the time, Hideo Tarumi, and the diplomat who is now consul in Shanghai, Masaru Okada, as agents of a “espionage organization”. A 62-year-old liberal intellectual, Dong Yuyu was a long-time contributor to this official party newspaper. Dong Yuyu, who did not hesitate to write that he was in favor of the rule of law, had also contributed over the years to a reformist magazine, Yanhuang Chunqiu, which has lost its freedom of tone since it was taken over. in 2016. He had also written articles for the Chinese online editions of the New York Times and the Financial Times. He was invited twice, in 2010 and 2014, to work temporarily in universities in Japan and regularly saw foreign diplomats and journalists to feed his thoughts. Intense pressure His entourage explains in the press release that he had already suffered intense pressure for his writings and sees in the conviction a sentence also for his reformist positions. He was tried in July 2023 behind closed doors, but the announcement of the verdict was postponed for a long time. “Chinese judicial organs handle cases in strict accordance with the law. Those who violate the law and commit crimes or offenses are subject to prosecution,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, said on Friday. You have 42.76% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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