A Chinese court on Thursday reduced the seven-year jail
sentence given to a 71-year-old Chinese journalist convicted of "leaking
state secrets" by two years, her lawyer said after an appeal in a case
condemned by free speech advocates.
Dozens of police officers blocked access to the Beijing high
court, where the decision on Gao Yu's appeal was announced.
The court reduced her seven year term to five, her attorney
Mo Shaoping told AFP.
"We think she is innocent. The sentence is just
lighter, it's a slight improvement," he added.
State security prevented foreign journalists and about 10
diplomats from standing near the court, and wrestled to the ground a woman who
shouted slogans in support of Gao.
The veteran reporter has suffered heart problems during her
detention, and Mo added there was a "possibility" she could be
released on medical parole in the future.
A former winner of UNESCO's World Press Freedom Prize, Gao
has been a consistent critic of the ruling Communist party?s authoritarian
policies.
A court convicted Gao in April of leaking a 2013 directive
by the Communist party named "Document number 9" to a Hong Kong media
outlet.
The document warned of the "dangers" of multiparty
democracy, independent media, universal definitions of human rights and
criticism of the party's historical record, according to copies widely
circulated online.
The hearing comes as China's president, Xi Jinping, oversees a crackdown on dissent that has seen hundreds of lawyers, activists and academics detained in recent years, with dozens jailed.
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