Prominent Chinese journalist Gao Yu criminally detained, says state media
5/7/2014BEIJING — Prominent Chinese journalist Gao Yu has been “criminally detained” just weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown for allegedly leaking state secrets to a foreign news site, the state news agency Xinhua reported today.
The detention of the outspoken 70-year-old journalist was just one of several detentions of government critics over the previous days ahead of the politically sensitive June 4 anniversary.
The report said the journalist was detained April 24, with authorities seizing evidence at her Beijing home. Gao was a well-known government critic who was imprisoned after the 1989 crackdown and had been reported missing since April 26. The report said Gao had confessed to the misdeeds.
On Tuesday, Chinese authorities detained well-known rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and several other people in an apparent bid to deter activists from marking the anniversary of the military suppression of pro-democracy protesters. Pu’s associate Qu Zhenhong said the lawyer was detained Tuesday morning.