Journalist Zhao Yan, a former reporter at a Beijing newspaper,
has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment for fraud,
according to sources from the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's
Court yesterday.
But he was found not guilty of disclosing state secrets after
the court ruled the prosecutors did not provide sufficient evidence
to support this charge.
The international media had reported that Zhao was suspected of
providing state secrets to the New York Times.
The court also ordered him to pay 2,000 yuan (US$250) in fines
and to pay back 20,000 yuan (US$2,500) he had gained through
fraudulent means.
Xinhua News Agency was provided with a document by the court
revealing that Zhao, then working for the Beijing newspaper
Baixing Xinbao, traveled to northeast China's Jilin Province in 2001 to investigate a case
involving a man named Feng Shanchen, who had been sentenced to
one-and-a-half years by the local authorities in Songyuan, a city
in Jilin.
According to the document, Feng believed the penalty to be
unjust and turned to Zhao for help.
Zhao reportedly lied that he had connections with the
Legislative Affairs Bureau of the State Council and if Feng paid
him 20,000 yuan, he would be able to rescind the punishment.
Zhao is said to have taken the money but did not keep his
promise.
The document says that the court had fully protected Zhao's
procedural rights during the trial. He was defended by himself and
two other defense lawyers.
Baixing Xinbao, a subsidiary of Legal Daily,
started publication in January 2000 but the loss-making paper was
closed down in December 2001.
(China Daily August 26, 2006)