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Alert

"Web dissident" faces five-year jail sentence

(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to Chinese Justice Minister Gao Changli, RSF again called for the release of freelance journalist and "web dissident" Qi Yanchen and asked that no jail sentence be pronounced at the end of his trial. Robert Ménard, the organisation's secretary-general, reminded the minister that in a document dated 18 January 2000, the United Nations' special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and freedom of speech had emphasised that "detention as punishment for the expression of a peaceful opinion is a serious violation of human rights." Finally, RSF is worried by the increasing number of restrictions in China on the information available on the Internet.


According to the information collected by RSF, Qi was brought before the Cangzhou County People's Court (Hebei province, south of Beijing) on 30 May. His trial lasted only five hours. He was charged with "subversion" and faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail. The authorities accuse Qi of writing, under the pen name Ji Li, articles for the Hong Kong monthly "Kaifang" and the pro-democracy newsletter "VIP Reference", which is distributed by e-mail. Qi, who is also one of the founders of the dissident group Union for the Development of China, was arrested on 2 September 1999 while he was printing an issue of "VIP Reference". His relatives have not been allowed to see him since his arrest and could not attend his trial because they were not informed of the date the trial was held.