The European Union has decided to put pressure on China.
Following the four-year prison sentence of Zhang Zhan, a "citizen journalist" and the start of the trial of 12 Hong Kong activists, Brussels asked Beijing on Tuesday December 29 to release them immediately.
"EU calls for the immediate release of Ms. Zhang Zhan", as well as that of human rights defenders and personalities detained in China for reporting "public interest" information, a spokesperson for the chief said in a statement. of European diplomacy Josep Borrell.
Zhang Zhan went to Wuhan in February, then in the grip of the Covid-19 epidemic, broadcasting reports on the Internet, in particular on the chaotic situation of hospitals.
Arrested in May, accused of "provoking unrest" and disseminating false information, she was sentenced on Monday to four years' imprisonment by a Shanghai court.
Zhang Zhan became the first person to be convicted by Beijing for disseminating independent news about the city which was at the epicenter of the novel coronavirus, his videos posted on social media revealing chaos in the metropolis' hospitals #AFP peak. twitter.com/SilvoiwBEG
- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) December 29, 2020
Brussels also called on Tuesday for the release of twelve Hong Kong activists arrested in August as they tried to leave the former British colony of Hong Kong by boat to Taiwan, and whose closed-door trial began on Monday. , in Shenzhen, mainland China.
"The defendants could not choose their lawyers (...) their trial is not open (...) Their rights to a fair trial and respect for procedures have not been respected", denounced in a separate press release a spokesperson for European diplomacy.
"We demand the immediate release of these twelve people and their speedy return to Hong Kong," he concluded.
An ongoing agreement
The calls come as China and the EU appear to be on the verge of concluding an ambitious reciprocal investment protection agreement after seven years of negotiations, despite charges of forced labor leveled against Beijing and recurring criticism of the violations. of human rights imputed to the communist regime.
"Restrictions on freedom of expression, access to information, intimidation and surveillance of journalists, such as detentions, trials and sentences of human rights defenders, lawyers and intellectuals in China continue to grow and remain a source of great concern, "observed the first EU statement on Tuesday.
"According to credible sources, Ms. Zhang was subjected to torture and ill-treatment during her detention, and her health has seriously deteriorated. It is crucial that she receive adequate medical assistance," said the Minister. European spokesperson.
Besides Ms. Zhang, the EU is calling for the immediate release of lawyer Yu Wensheng, whose four-year prison sentence was upheld on appeal in mid-December.
She also claims that of lawyers Li Yuhan and Gao Zhisheng, cyber-dissidents Huang Qi and Wu Gan, human rights defender Ge Jueping (arrested in 2016 during the G20 in China), the writer and activist Qin Yongmin, the activist of the Tibetan language Tashi Wangchuk, human rights defender Liu Feiyue, as well as Uyghur intellectual Ilham Tohti.
The latter, sentenced to life imprisonment in China for "separatism", was the 2019 winner of the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights awarded by the European Parliament.
With AFP
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