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Two Chinese activists sentenced to 15 months’ jail for archiving censored internet material
- Chen Mei and Cai Wei were found guilty of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ after archiving 100 articles related to the pandemic
- One of the most popular reports they published was an interview with Ai Fen, a whistle-blower doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital
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Two Chinese activists were sentenced to 15 months in prison on Friday for archiving censored internet materials during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a family member.
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The Beijing Chaoyang District People’s Court handed down the jail sentences to 28-year-old Chen Mei and 27-year-old Cai Wei on Friday, said Chen Kun, the brother of Chen Mei.
The two activists, who were officially charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a catch-all offence often used by police to muzzle dissent – pleaded guilty in court.
They have been in custody in Beijing since April last year after publishing articles about the health crisis on GitHub, the world’s largest open-source website.
“They will be released this Sunday, if everything goes well,” Chen Kun said.
He also repeated the defence lawyers’ statement that Chen Mei would not appeal if the court’s sentence was in keeping with the prosecutors’ recommendation. The defenders were appointed by the authorities after lawyers hired by his family were refused access to the case several times.
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