Gao Yu, 50-year-old former deputy editor of the now-banned pro-reform newspaper Economics Weekly, was sentenced on 10 November 1994 to six years’ imprisonment on charges of “disclosing important state secrets”. She was sentenced after an unfair trial during which she had no legal representation and about which her lawyers or husband were not informed. The charges appear to relate to articles she had published in the Hong Kong press, dealing with structural reforms and other matters within state bodies. AI considers her to be a prisoner of conscience and is calling for her immediate and unconditional release.
