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Alert

"Web dissident" sentenced to four years in jail for "subversion", another journalist arrested

(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to the Chinese minister of justice, Gao Changli, RSF protested the four-year jail sentence against Qi Yanchen, a journalist and web dissident. The organisation called on the minister to "ensure the immediate release of the journalist, who merely expressed his opinions". Moreover, RSF asked the minister for explanations about the motives of the arrest of Guo Qinghai, a freelance journalist and friend of Qi Yanchen, during the week of 10 September 2000. RSF believes that a jail sentence constitutes a serious violation of press freedom. In a document dated 18 January, the special rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights emphasised that "imprisonment as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion constitutes a serious violation of human rights." At least three "web dissidents" and nine journalists are currently jailed in China.


According to information collected by RSF, on 19 September, Qi Yanchen, economist, editor-in-chief of the online review "Consultations" and contributor to the Hong Kong monthly "Kaifang", was sentenced to four years in jail by the Popular Court of Cangzhou (Hebei province, north of Beijing). On 2 September 1999, four policemen arrested him at his home in Botou, a suburb of Cangzhou, while he was working on the new edition of "Consultations". Qi Yanchen was declared guilty of "subversion" and "distribution of anti-governmental news via the Internet". The court accused him of publishing large excerpts of his unfinished book "China's Collapse" on the Internet, and of writing three articles for the review "Kaifang". During the trial, held on 30 May, the judge affirmed that Qi Yanchen, under the pen name Ji Li, also published articles in the newsletter "VIP Reference", published in the United States. The journalist's family was not informed of the trial date and so was unable to witness the proceedings. This is the heaviest sentence given to a "web dissident" in China. Qi Yanchen, aged 36, is the father of two children.