On 26 July 2011, a court in Shandong Province rejected the appeal of human rights defender Mr Qi Chonghuai against an eight-year prison sentence on charges of extortion, blackmail, and embezzlement.Qi Chonghuai was convicted of these charges on 9 June 2011, and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Further Information

Qi Chonghuai has already served a four-year prison term on charges of extortion and blackmail, and was due to be released on 25 June 2011, however, shortly before this date, Qi Chonghuai was visited in prison by police officers who indicated that he would not be released. Shortly thereafter, the Prosecution claimed that new evidence had emerged which suggested that he had misappropriated funds whilst working for China Security Produce News, and therefore reactivated his case and brought a new charge of embezzlement against him.

It is believed that the prison visit by police officers, as well as the decision by the Prosecution to sentence Qi Chonghuai to a further eight years in prison, and reject his appeal is linked to a pledge made by Qi Chonghuai that, upon release, he would continue his work as an investigative journalist.

Qi Chonghuai is a journalist who exposed corruption and covered many other cases of social injustice while working for a number of different news outlets in Shandong province. He was arrested on 25 June 2007 after posting a story online alleging gross corruption by local Tengzhou city government officials. Qi Chonghuai was allegedly severely mistreated during his time in police custody and during his first year in prison. In 2009 Qi Chonghuai had a number of letters smuggled out of Tengzhou Prison in which he described regular beatings at the hands of prison guards and of other inmates. One such incident left him unconscious for three days.

For further information on this case please refer to the Previous Front Line urgent appeal