Thursday, May 8, 2014

Chinese dissident apologizes in TV shaming

The public shaming of Gao Yu was perhaps the most shocking in a recent series of on-air confessions.


Chinese journalist Gao Yu, one of China’s most venerable dissident journalists, was paraded on state television Thursday morning, apologizing for spilling state secrets that embarrassed the Chinese Communist Party.
By: Barbara Demick Los Angeles Times
BEIJING —One of China’s most venerable dissident journalists was paraded on state television Thursday morning, apologizing for spilling state secrets that embarrassed the Chinese Communist Party.
The public shaming of Gao Yu, a 70-year-old grandmother who had written widely about the pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square, was perhaps the most shocking in a recent series of on-air confessions.
“I believe that what I did broke the law and harmed the interests of the country. This was extremely wrong,” Gao, wearing an orange prison vest, said in the televised broadcast. “I sincerely and earnestly accept this lesson and I want to confess.”
Chinese state media described Gao as leaking state secrets, leading some commentators to call her China’s Edward Snowden. But the leaked document in question appears to have been ideological guidelines distributed to cadres last year by the Communist Party’s Central Committee. The so-called Document No. 9 railed against seven subversive elements —Western democracy, human rights, civic participation, neo-liberalism, independent media, questioning the history of the Chinese Communist Party and questioning China’s economic policy.
The ideas were widely reported in the foreign media, as well as in Communist Party journals, but Gao is accused of having obtained the full text of the document in June and of giving it to the Chinese-language website of Deutsche Welle, the German broadcaster.
Gao’s arrest, coming almost a year after the alleged crime, appears timed to the upcoming 25th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, military crackdown at Tiananmen Square, one of the most sensitive dates on the Chinese calendar.
“The government is trying to intimidate anybody who might discuss June 4 — that this is a taboo topic and that this is what will happen to you if you discuss it,” said Zhang Lifan, a Communist Party historian based in Beijing.
It is customary before the June 4 anniversary for the Chinese government to keep activists under house arrest as a precaution, but this year it has happened sooner and with more vigour than in the past.
The broadcast on Gao was aired at 6.30 a.m., when viewership is low, and her face was blurred during the broadcast — courtesies that suggest she will be treated leniently in return for the confession.
Televised confessions — a legacy of the Communist custom of self-criticism —have become common fixtures on Chinese television the last few years.
Still, the roundup of activists is a disappointment for Chinese liberals, many of whom had enthusiastically predicted that Xi Jinping, who took over as president last year, would allow more candid discussion of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
“Twenty-five years of official impunity is enough —it is high time for the Chinese authorities themselves to face the truth, assume responsibility for their actions, and begin the healing process for the nation,” Sharon Hom, director of the New York-based organization Human Rights in China, said in a statement released Thursday.

中共拘异见记者高瑜:镜头前认罪 深刻
信源:自由亚洲
中国官方媒体新华社58发布消息,证实曾多次就六四等敏感问题发表言论的异见人士高瑜被刑事拘留。官方提供的理由是高瑜日前向境外网站非法提供一份中央机密文件,但具体未披露,报道称高瑜本人就此向当局表示了深刻忏悔。有消息称该文件可能即为确保意识形态安全的中办9号文件----关于当前意识形态领域情况的通报》。近期,习近平在宣布中央国家安全委员会的运作时同时抛出自己的总体国家安全观。从稍早前广东曝光的泄露军事机密案可见,中共正在强化对国家安全的保护并对泄密行为重手严惩


官媒公布高瑜画面(左图),高瑜Twitter只更新至423日(右


视公布高瑜认罪画

华社引述北京市公安局消息称,因涉嫌为境外非法提供国家秘密罪,高瑜近日被北京警方依法刑事拘留。报道称,20138月,某境外网站全文刊发了一份中央机密文件,随后多家网站进行转载,引起了社会广泛关注。北京警方迅速成立专案组,全力开展调查工作。经大量调查,专案组最终锁定了犯罪嫌疑人高瑜(女,70岁,北京市朝阳区人)

专案组在掌握大量证据的基础上,于2014424日将其抓获,并在其居住地起获了重要证据

经审查,犯罪嫌疑人高瑜交代了将一份非法获取的中央机密文件提供给某境外网站的犯罪事实。20136月,高瑜通过他人获得了该机密文件的复印件后,将内容逐字录入成电子版保存,随后将该电子版通过互联网提供给某境外网站负责人。该网站将文件进行了全文刊登,引发多家网站转载

华社全文未披露该机密文件的具体内容,但有消息猜测应为日前引发舆论震动的中办9号文件《关于当前意识形态领域情况的通报》。这份去年5月份下发的旨在通报意识形态领域情况的文件正值中共喉舌掀起大规模的反宪政、反普世价值热潮。文件随后不断出现在各地党政机关学习的公开报道中,但具体内容依旧神秘。直到同年820日,《纽约时报》披露该文件的主旨为警告中国共产党若不能根除七大危险,权力将可能旁落。七大风险分别指,宣扬西方宪政民主,企图否定当代领导,否定中国特色社会主义政治制度;宣扬普世价,企图动摇党执政的思想理论基础;宣扬公民社会,企图瓦解党执政的社会基础;宣扬新自由主义,企图改变中国基本经济制度;宣扬西方新闻观,挑战中国党管媒体原则和新闻出版管理制度;宣扬历史虚无主义,企图否定中国共产党历史和新中国历史;质疑改革开放,质疑中国特色社会主义的社会主义性质。同日,香港明镜更刊出文件全文,引发舆论震动,尤其是矛头直指反华势力和异见分子的行动的内容

华社报道还称,归案后,犯罪嫌疑人高瑜表达了深刻忏悔。她说,自己的泄密行为危害了国家利益、触犯了国家法律,对此深表忏悔,诚心诚意地认识自己的错误和罪行,甘愿接受法律惩处

华社的报道特意补充了高瑜的犯罪前科:高瑜在1993年曾因泄露国家机密罪被判处有期徒刑6年。实际上高瑜曾两次入狱。第一次是198963日被秘密逮捕,强迫失踪450天;第二次是因给《镜报》撰稿以泄露国家机密罪被判刑6年。1999215日,以保外就医的名义获释。高瑜是中国获国际新闻奖最多的记者,其中包括联合国第一位新闻自由奖获得者。


高瑜

近期,中共不断强化防守国家安全的动作。4月份,超级机构中央国家安全委员会正式运转。当时中共最高领导人习近平抛出其总体国家安全观,并一口气提出11安全这被视为一个重要信号。54日官方公布消息,广东近日破获一起由境外间谍机关通过网络勾联策反境内人员,窃取中国军事秘密的案件,案犯李某因泄露机密级军事秘密13份,秘密级军事秘密10份,被判处有期徒刑10年。两天后,中共官方发布的首部《中国国家安全研究报告(2014)》则更是列举了中国当下面临的四大威胁,并提出若干安全建议

另外,随着六四25周年纪念日临近,大陆当局也加强了对相关人员的控制,有评论称其严密程度为近十年之最。53日包括《零八宪章》多名签署人、天安门母亲代表等人在北京参加六四25周年纪念讨论会,随后多人遭当局报复,或被约谈,至少4人被拘留,其中包括维权律师浦志强等人。而未与会但有书面发言的自由派法学家贺卫方也突然改变态度,拒绝就此发表评论

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