China: trial of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan opens
Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan is being sued by Chinese justice for her coverage of the chaotic beginnings of the pandemic in Wuhan (illustrative image).
AP - Ng Han Guan
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
A "citizen journalist" is threatened with prison for her coverage of the beginnings of the pandemic in Wuhan, China.
Zhang Zhan's trial is due to open on Monday, December 28 in Shanghai.
Arrested last May, the 37-year-old whistleblower is accused of "causing trouble" by spreading "false news".
An accusation regularly used against opponents of the regime.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in Beijing
,
Stéphane Lagarde
Two Z's to sign
her videos
: "
I am Zhang Zhan
" said the former lawyer, whose mobile phone reports that emerged overnight in Wuhan at the beginning of last spring greatly displeased the authorities.
Since then, the round face and the silhouette of the citizen journalist have thinned in detention, according to Ren Quanniu, one of his lawyers.
On a
hunger strike
, force-fed through a nasal tube, she is said to be very weak.
“
When I visited her at the remand center,”
says her lawyer Ren Quanniu, “
she shared a room with many other detainees.
She has just enough space to move around, but she's always attached anyway.
"
In his videos and articles online, Zhang Zhan has shown the hospital chaos at the start of the pandemic.
She also criticized the management of local authorities and in particular the long confinement of the capital of Hubei.
Detained in 2018, already, for disturbing public order and a year later, in 2019, after expressing her support for the
protesters in Hong Kong
, she is today accused of having spread the rumor on social networks.
The first citizen journalist to stand trial for her coverage of Wuhan, the latter refused to plead guilty knowing that her information was gathered firsthand from residents according to another of her lawyers.
A priori, only the close family of the young woman should be able to attend the hearing.
She faces a 5-year prison sentence.
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