2014-10-01
A file photo of Chinese journalist Gao Yu speaking at a press conference in Hong Kong.
AFP
Imprisoned veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu has hired well-known rights lawyer Mo Shaoping to defend her against charges of “leaking state secrets,” replacing her former attorney as her case moves closer to trial, sources said.
Gao was secretly detained on April 24, and then formally arrested on May 30, as authorities rounded up dozens of rights activists and dissidents for questioning ahead of the anniversary of the June 4, 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
She was later paraded on the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s state television channel, where she was shown, her face blurred on screen, apparently confessing to having obtained a highly confidential document and sent it to an overseas website.
Gao’s former lawyer Zhang Sizhi, 87, can no longer represent Gao for reasons of health, a friend of the jailed journalist told RFA’s Mandarin Service on Wednesday.
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