China cuts veteran journalist Gao Yu’s sentence to five years in prison

An imprisoned 71-year-old Chinese journalist had her sentence reduced on Thursday to five years from seven following an appeal in a case that has provoked outrage among global rights groups.

Gao, who is 71 and said to be in poor health, was sentenced to seven years in prison for revealing state secrets in April, and she immediately appealed.

The move, which is rare in China’s Communist Party-controlled legal system, follows worldwide pressure for the release of Gao, who was accused of leaking state secrets to global media.

Foreign governments and human rights groups have denounced the verdict against Gao as politically driven retribution for her criticisms of the government, and urged authorities to release the elderly journalist.

William Nee, a China Researcher at Amnesty International, said that while the verdict was a “light improvement”, Gao should not have been detained in the first place, and “should be released”.

“Her sentencing is in line with the very stern approach President Xi Jinping’s team has taken on dissent, information control and challenges to the Party”, he added.

Mo cited the court as saying the reduction had been made on the grounds Gao had “expressed guilt” during her appeal hearing, held in secret, but referred to the admission as a “bargain”. The 2013 document called on the party to stamp out foreign ideological influences, particularly concepts such as universal values, Western style democracy, civil society and Western concepts of freedom of press.

After her arrest, the veteran journalist appeared on national TV confessing to the crime of “leaking state secrets”.

Police detained Gao in April 2014 amid a sweeping crackdown on rights activists in advance of the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when People’s Liberation Army soldiers fired into crowds of unarmed pro-democracy protesters, killing hundreds.

The magazine, Mingjing News, has said Gao did not provide the document.

Shang said he would continue to seek Gao’s release on medical parole, which authorities have already rejected three times.

“We think she is innocent”.

“We, of course, hoped our defense would have set her free, but the reduction of two years is still a good thing”, said her lawyer.

A former victor of Unesco’s World Press Freedom Prize, Gao has been a consistent critic of the ruling Communist Party’s authoritarian policies.