The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source.
Find and delete the article “Qing’an Heilongjiang Disciplinary Inspection Official Beaten to Death After Reporting on County Officials.” Do not hype this story. [Chinese]
On June 8, Caijing reported on the lack of progress in an investigation into the death of Fan Jiandong, an official with Qing’an county’s anti-corruption agency. According to Caijing, Fan was beaten by a gang of masked men on April 2, months after a trip to Beijing to report on county officials. Fan died while being hospitalized on May 1. The article has disappeared from Caijing’s website and all other Chinese news portals, but can be read in full via Vancouver-based Chinese-language news website city365.ca.
An English-language report from the Global Times summarizes the Caijing article, providing details on the document Fan delivered to Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection superiors in Beijing on February 12:
The document, jointly signed by Fan and two others, accused the county’s Party chief Sun Jingshan and county head Li Yingnan for their alleged involvement in the illegal construction of a deluxe office building after the State Council requested all government bodies not to build any new office building for five years.
At least 30 million yuan ($4.8 million) was invested, yet the new building was not being used, the document read.
No suspect has been arrested, Caijing reported.
A staff member at Fan’s office confirmed his cause of death, but refused to confirm if he had been to Beijing. [Source]
Last month, propaganda authorities suppressed independent reporting on a controversial police shooting that also occurred in Qing’an, Heilongjiang.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.
