Journalist Gao Qinrong released five years early

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has expressed huge relief at the early release of journalist Gao Qinrong, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1999 for exposing a corruption scandal implicating top provincial officials.

Gao, who worked for the official Xinhua news agency, was arrested on 4 December 1998 after writing about corruption linked to an irrigation project in Shanxi province in central China. He was sentenced on 28 April 1999 for “corruption” and “pimping”.

He was freed nearly five years before the end of his original sentence after benefiting from a third successive reduction in his term for “good behaviour” in jail. He was given similar reductions in 2002 and 2004.

“Gao Qinrong, who was unfairly sentenced to a very harsh prison term, has already paid very dearly for his work as a journalist investigating the corruption which is poisoning China,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

“We are delighted at his release but it is important to point out that this journalist has already spent eight years of his life in prison and that 31 other journalists are currently in prison for trying to freely inform the Chinese public,” it added.

Gao confirmed to Reporters Without Borders by phone that he was freed at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on 7 December 2006 from Prison N°1 in Qixian, Shanxi province, southwest of Beijing.

“My health is not too bad. I just need to rest at home now, but I plan on going before the courts so as to be acquitted,” he said from his home in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

Gao expressed strong anxiety about threats from people he had named in his investigations. One of his co-defendants was assaulted by henchmen in the pay of a local official on the very day of his release, in 2003. Mindful of this, Gao got police and prison authorities to agree to drive him home in an official vehicle and to put him under protection.

The journalist’s family and former colleagues have warned him to be careful, for fear that former officials could seek revenge for the articles which appeared back in 1998.

Gao, now 51, expressed his gratitude to journalists, the media and Reporters Without Borders, who defended him and supported his wife during his long years in detention. Several western countries had included his name on a list of political prisoners whose release they were requesting.

For further information, contact Vincent Brossel at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 70, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.rsf.org

The information contained in this update is the sole responsibility of RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.