The State Department has denounced a Chinese courtroom’s sentencing of a distinguished journalist, Dong Yuyu, to seven years in jail and mentioned it stood together with his household in calling for his “speedy and unconditional launch.”
A courtroom in Beijing introduced the sentence on Friday for his conviction on fees of espionage. Mr. Dong, 62, a former Harvard Nieman fellow, has been held since February 2022, when officers from the Ministry of State Security, China’s primary intelligence company, detained him and a Japanese diplomat whereas they ate lunch in a restaurant.
The officers launched the diplomat after an interrogation, however prosecutors put Mr. Dong on trial behind closed doorways in July 2023. He is essentially the most distinguished journalist imprisoned in mainland China.
Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, mentioned in a press release on Friday that Mr. Dong’s “arrest and right this moment’s sentencing spotlight the P.R.C.’s failure to dwell as much as its commitments beneath worldwide legislation and its personal constitutional ensures to all its residents.” He used the initials of the formal identify of the nation, the People’s Republic of China.
“We rejoice Dong’s work as a veteran journalist and editor, in addition to his contributions to U.S.-P.R.C. people-to-people ties, together with as a Harvard University Nieman fellow,” Mr. Miller added. “We stand by Dong and his household and name for his speedy and unconditional launch.”
R. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China and a former Harvard professor, additionally issued a press release of condemnation, calling the sentencing “unjust.”
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