A Chinese journalist jailed for four years after documenting the early phases of the COVID-19 outbreak from the pandemic’s epicenter was sentenced on Friday to four more years in prison, Reporters Without Borders said.
Zhang Zhan, 42, was sentenced on a charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” in China, the same charge that led to her December 2020 imprisonment after she posted first-hand accounts from the central city of Wuhan on the early spread of coronavirus, the international press freedom group, known by its French initials RSF, said on Saturday.
China’s Foreign Ministry could not be immediately reached on Sunday for comment. Reuters could not determine whether the citizen-journalist had legal representation.
“She should be celebrated globally as an ‘information hero’, not trapped in brutal prison conditions,” RSF Asia-Pacific advocacy manager Aleksandra Bielakowska said in a statement.
“Her ordeal and persecution must end. It is more urgent than ever for the international diplomatic community to pressure Beijing for her immediate release.”
Zhang was initially arrested after months of posting accounts, including videos, from crowded hospitals and empty streets that painted a more dire early picture of the disease than the official narrative.
Her lawyer at the time, Ren Quanniu, said Zhang believed she was “being persecuted for exercising her freedom of speech.”
She went on hunger strike the month after that arrest, according to court documents seen by Reuters, prompting police to strap her hands and force-feed her with a tube, her lawyers said at the time. --->READ MORE HERE
A 39-year-old man sent to prison in March for shooting and killing a man in 2020 has returned to Lubbock to begin a 10-year term of community supervision as part of his plea deal with prosecutors.
Robert Baker appeared Monday in the 137th District Court for a re-sentencing hearing during which District Judge John McClendon converted his 10-year prison sentence into a 10-year probation term.
Monday's proceeding was part of a deal Baker agreed to on March 27 in exchange for his guilty plea to a count of manslaughter in the Nov. 8, 2020 shooting death of 44-year-old Jason Holloway, who was loading groceries into his vehicle at the United Market Street parking lot near the intersection of 19th Street and Quaker Avenue.
The deal required him to spend 6 months in prison after which he would be returned to Lubbock and his punishment would be changed to 10 years of probation.
Lubbock County Detention Center records show he was returned to Lubbock on Sept. 16.
Baker faces up to 10 years in prison if his probation is revoked.
Manslaughter carries a punishment of two to 20 years in prison.
He was initially charged with murder, which carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.
After the hearing in March, Lubbock County District Attorney Sunshine Stanek issued a statement describing the case as unprecedented as it involved "unusual facts and significant physical and mental health issues" that had to be considered into the plea offer. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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