Zhang Zhan, a Chinese citizen journalist who reported from Wuhan during the early stages of the pandemic, was sentenced to four years in prison after being accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble, ” her lawyer Zang Keke said.
Zhang Zhan had been detained for seven months before she was sentenced on Monday by the Shanghai Pudong People’s Court, according to her lawyers. She was accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a vaguely-defined charge that the Chinese government often uses to silence critics.
Zhang, 37, was among several Chinese citizens who took it upon themselves to travel to the central Chinese city of Wuhan early this year to report on the government’s handling of the outbreak, filming inside hospitals and on empty streets as the Wuhan authorities enforced a strict lockdown.
China has punished 8 virus whistleblowers so far.
According to her lawyer, she has been on a hunger strike since June. “Zhang Zhan attended the trial in a wheelchair and was in poor health,” lawyer Zhang Keke said.
On social media after the trial, Zhang Keke said: “During the trial, the prosecutor only read out the list of evidence, without showing most of it, including the core evidence. Zhang Zhan said citizens’ speech should not be censored. But apart from that, she basically did not speak.”
Zhang Zhan, who has been held in a detention center in Shanghai since mid-May, has maintained her innocence and in June she started refusing to take food to protest against her arrest, legal sources said.
This live- stream video on youtube is the last timeZang Zhan was seen in social media.
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