He’s out of prison Zhang Zhan, the “citizen journalist” sentenced to four years in China for having blogged about the tragic days in Wuhan at the beginning of 2020, after the explosion of Covid-19. Zhang was released but did not regain freedom of speech or movement. She has served her sentence in full, but Since she left her cell on May 13, she has been unable to communicate.
The first message, a short video, filtered only yesterday: the exhibition in the corridor of a building. He says hello, she speaks in a low voice: «The police released me at 5 in the morning on May 13 and sent me to my older brother’s house in Shanghai. Thank you all for your help and concern.” At this point the woman pauses and holds back her tears. Then she continues in an uncertain voice: «I wish you all the best… that’s all I can say».
The video was published by Reporters Without Borders, who in recent years has followed the case of the independent journalist convicted for “provoking arguments and problems”: this formula is used by Chinese courts to indicate those who have publicly questioned the official line of the authorities. Zhang Zhan, now 40 years old, in February 2020 she left her job as a lawyer in Shanghai to become a citizen journalist and she went to Wuhan shocked by Covid-19. With the camera on her smartphone she had filmed the entrances to the buildings surrounded by barriers and manned by security guards to block millions of people at home; you had interviewed the staff responsible for applying the restrictive measures; she had given voice to desperate traders in the city paralyzed by quarantine.
In Zhan’s blog, published on Chinese and international social media, the dramatic nature of the health situation, with the hospital wards full, and the inflexibility of the Wuhan authorities. In May 2020, after receiving several warnings, the reporter was arrested.
In December 2020 she was sentenced to four years for “spreading news that disturbs social stability”. Her judges did not accuse her of having distorted the facts, but of having shown them without filter to the Chinese on their social networks.
The sentence ended on May 13. But the Chinese system keeps dissidents under close surveillance even after their release. For a week Zhang remained closed in a disturbing cone of shadow. Now the video of a few seconds at least confirms that she has left prison, even if it is not possible to say that she is truly free. “I can’t say anything else”, the phrase with which Zhang concludes her greeting to those who supported her, says everything about her real situation. “Partial freedom is not freedom,” comments Reporters Without Borders.
