Boxun Reports Chinese Authorities Have Sentenced Essayist Huang Jinqiu (aka Qing Shuijun)

Boxun is reporting that the Changzhou Intermediate People's court in Jiangsu province has sentenced journalist and essayist Huang Jinqiu to twelve years imprisonment for subversion. According to Boxun, the sentencing document stated that Huang was guilty of organizing, planning, and carrying out subversion of the national regime for posting reactionary essays on the Internet in his capacity as a member of the preparatory committee of the China Patriot Democracy Party.

Huang Jinqiu published his first book at age 20, and had worked as a reporter and editor at Guangzhou's Yancheng Wanbao. In 2000 Huang went to Malaysia to study journalism. He returned to China in August 2003. He published several articles on Boxun's website. The last, which was published two days before his September 13, 2003 detention, was entitled "Me and My Public Security Friends," and discussed how Public Security officials had been following him. His family received notification of his arrest January 2004.

Under Chinese law, besides the Communist Party there are only eight authorized political parties. According to China's Constitution, each of these parties is "supervised and led" by the Communist Party.