2015-10-19
Southern Metropolis Daily journalist Liu Wei in an undated photo.
Photo courtesy of an RFA listener
Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi are holding a top investigative journalist on suspicion of “obtaining state secrets,” his newspaper has reported.
Liu Wei, a journalist for the cutting-edge Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily, was placed under criminal detention on Oct. 9 by Jiangxi’s Pingxiang municipal police department, according to a copy of his detention notice seen by RFA.
“In accordance with Article 80 of China’s Criminal Law, Liu Wei was placed under criminal detention at 5.00 p.m. on Oct. 9 on suspicion of illegally obtaining state secrets,” the notice said.
“He is currently being held at the Jinxian County Detention Center, Nanchang city,” it said.
Liu, a highly respected journalist known for his expose of the links between celebrity qigong master Wang Lin and prominent public figures, had been incommunicado since Oct. 8.
Liu had written a number of articles detailing the links between Wang Lin and celebrities, business people, and Communist Party officials.
By the age of 37, Liu had risen to become deputy director of the paper, which has fallen foul of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department in the past because of its relatively daring reporting.
Liu’s detention comes after the paper ran a black page as an advertisement on the International Day of Democracy last month, prompting some to wonder if the ad was making a sly reference to a lack of democracy in China.
‘Disappeared’
Liu “disappeared” at Chengdu airport, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, on Oct. 8, and the paper then contacted Jiangxi police to speak up in his defense and to post bail, which was refused, the South China Morning Post reported.
Liu began investigating Wang in 2013 after he was accused of charging exorbitant fees for medical services he was allegedly unqualified to perform.
Jiangxi police detained Wang in July in connection with a kidnapping and murder investigation after a Jiangxi provincial lawmaker, one of his followers, was found dead.
Southern Metropolis News later published several documents given to Liu by an ex-wife of Wang’s, who bought them from a police officer.
The ex-wife and the police officer are also being held on suspicion of illegally obtaining state secrets, and Liu appears to be a defendant in the same case.
A journalist who answered the phone at the Southern Metropolis Daily offices on Sunday declined to comment on the case.
“Our bosses have stopped responding to queries even from domestic media, starting last Friday,” the journalist said.
“The Southern Metropolis Daily has been working hard to clarify matters via [social media] all along, ever since the beginning of this whole affair,” he said.
Tightened controls
In an earlier exchange on Saturday, another employee confirmed that the paper had sent a lawyer to Liu in Jiangxi.
An officer who answered the phone at the Pingxiang municipal police department also declined to discuss the case.
“We would only tell the relatives [information like that],” the officers said. “I can’t respond to your queries over the telephone, because I have no way to confirm you are who you say you are.”
“I am unable to discuss any of this with you.”
The state news agency Xinhua on Monday quoted the public security ministry in Beijing as saying that it was overseeing Liu’s case “in response to public concern.”
Meanwhile, the Southern Metropolis Daily has pledged to cooperate with the investigation, it said.