Wu Baoquan’s comments towards the government landed him in prison. Roland Soong of ESWN translates a Southern Metropolis Daily article that talks about Wu’s situation, as well as the quieting of his case online:
Yesterday is the day when Wu Baoquan goes from the detention center in the city of Ordos (Inner Mongolia) into the local prison. If his appeal fails, Wu Baoquan will have to spent the next one year and eight days in prison.
On April 27, Wu Baoquan was arrested in Shenyang city because he made comments on the Internet that insulted and libeled the government as well as individual persons. After a series of judicial steps including a trial, an appeal, an increased sentence, another appeal and a sustained sentence, Wu learned on April 17 that the Ordos Middle Court has upheld the original sentence and he will have to serve prison from April 29, 2008 to April 28, 2010.
On April 19, this newspaper reported this Inner Mongolian case that was analogous to the Wang Shuai case. The difference was that Wang Shuai received an official apology as well as state compensation. But Wu Baoquan was arrested out of state, sentenced to one year in prison at the first trial and had the sentence increased to two years at the second trial. This story created a stir on the Internet at the various major forums. But at the Ordos forums at Baidu and elsewhere, discussion was limited.
Update: See also posts from the Siweiluozi blog about this case and another recent case of a Sichuan forestry bureau worker who was put on trial for “defaming” his superiors in an online post over allegations of misconduct in a reforestation project.
