The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) jailed a former Chinese state media journalist who turned into an anti-corruption journalist because he “attacked and vilified the Communist Party and government.”
“Chen Jieren was convicted on Thursday of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble, extortion, illegal business operations and bribery’, a court in central Hunan province said in an online statement,” The South China Morning Post reported. “The charge of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ is a catch-all that Chinese authorities often use against people who criticise the regime.”
Chen was jailed two years after he published two articles on his personal website that accused CCP officials of being corrupt.
“China is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and tightly controls the press at home while censoring most foreign media outlets via the Great Firewall, its vast online censorship and surveillance apparatus,” CNN reported. “In March, China expelled journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, in an unprecedented move against the foreign press.” – READ MORE
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