Past Chinese state media blogger Dong Yuyu was given a seven-year prison sentence by a court in Beijing on espionage-related espionage charges on Friday. The 62-year-old columnist was detained in the Chinese investment in February 2022 while having breakfast with a Chinese minister.
Dong’s home condemned the ruling, saying,” Sentencing Yuyu to seven years in prison without data declares to the world the liquidation of China’s fairness system”.
They continued,” Today’s ruling is a grave injustice to every visionary Chinese columnist and every ordinary Chinese person who is committed to friendly relationship with the world.”
The envoy and Dong were detained by Beijing police during their lunch in February 2022, according to the US National Press Club, and later charged with spying. The home claimed that the court gave the name of the Chinese embassy in Beijing in particular after identifying the Chinese diplomats Dong met with as being espionage agents. According to them, this implies that Chinese people should accept the classification of spying organizations as diplomats.
The Chinese diplomat involved was quickly detained, prompting a grievance from Japan’s foreign government. Chinese authorities at the time asserted that the minister had engaged in “inconsistent with their ability.”
On the day of the ruling, police maintained a large appearance at the court, and reporters were asked to leave. A US minister was apparently barred from attending the reading, which, like Dong’s closed-door July 2023 reading, excluded people spectators.
According to Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, the case was handled” completely in accordance with the law.” Takeshi Iwaya, the country’s foreign minister, said in any event that political activities carried out at our operations worldwide are legitimate.
Beh Lih Yi, Asia Program Manager at the Committee to Protect Journalists, called for Dong’s fast release, saying,” Chinese authorities may change this unjust verdict and defend the right of journalists to work easily and safely. If his family and Dong Yuyu reunite?
Dong, a previous Guangming Daily director and Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, usually interacted with officials and journalists.
Dong’s home initially kept his incarceration secret, hoping for a lesser charge or dismissal, but they learned in March 2023 that he would be tried.
Many journalists, academics, and NGO employees have since signed a petition demanding Dong’s transfer.
