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China jails scholar to 20 years for leaking secrets
2006-12-19
A former media commentator and researcher with a top state-run academic institute has been jailed in China for 20 years for leaking state secrets, a rights group has said. Lu Jianhua was sentenced in a closed hearing at a Beijing intermediate court on Monday, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement. He was found guilty of leaking state secrets by the court in a 90-minute trial on August 16, the center said. Lu was denied the right to choose his own lawyer and a court-appointed attorney defended him. The Beijing court refused to comment on the case, apparently due to the alleged "state secrets" involved. Lu's case was linked to that of Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong who was sentenced to five years in prison in August on accusations of spying for Taiwan, the center said. Ching has always maintained his innocence. Over the last several years, Lu had written several articles for Ching's paper, the Singapore Straits Times, including four articles that state investigators said contained "high-level state secrets," the center said. Lu, 46, is a well-known Chinese scholar at the China Academy of Social Sciences and was a top editor at the academy's series of annual publications covering the nation's economic, social and political issues. Lu had also been a frequent commentator on the news shows of state broadcaster China Central Television. "The information center condemns the sentencing of Lu Jianhua by the communist authorities," the center said. "From what we can gather, ever since Lu Jianhua was arrested he has been denied a lawyer capable of defending him fairly." Lu was taken into police custody in April 2005.
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