CDT编辑注：北京一法院11月29日以间谍罪判处媒体人董郁玉七年监禁。现年62岁的董郁玉毕业于北京大学法学院，曾任官媒《光明日报》资深编辑，在一些文章中对当局提出批评，曾获得多项新闻奖。他还曾为外媒撰稿，并在美国和日本的高校访学。2022年，董在北京与一位日本外交官会面时被捕，而后者被短暂拘留后获释。董郁玉家属在声明中说，法庭在判决中将董与日本前驻华大使垂秀夫以及另一名日本外交官的接触作为他与间谍组织特工会面的证据；判决书仅在法庭上宣读，未交给董的律师和家人。董郁玉的家人在英文声明中表示，这份判决是对董多年来撰文批评政府的惩罚，也是对“每一位致力于与世界友好交流的普通中国公民的沉重打击”。CDT将家属声明翻译为中文，文末附英文原文。
关于董郁玉案判决与量刑的家属声明
2024年11月29日
（由董郁玉家属发布）
今天的判决不仅是对董郁玉及其家人的重大不公，也是对每一位具有独立思考精神的中国记者以及每一位致力于与世界友好交流的普通中国公民的沉重打击。
在没有任何证据的情况下，判处董郁玉七年徒刑，向世界昭示了中国司法体系的彻底破产。北京市第二中级人民法院以间谍罪对董郁玉定罪，而这一罪名要求检方必须证明被告在明知的情况下为“间谍组织”及其代理人行事。
根据庭审中宣读的判决书内容（此判决书未提供给董郁玉的律师或家人），董郁玉会见的日本外交官，包括时任日本驻华大使垂秀夫及现任驻上海首席外交官冈田胜，都被明确指认为“间谍组织”——即日本驻华使馆的代理人。
我们对中国当局公然将外国大使馆认定为“间谍组织”，并指控前日本大使及其同事为间谍感到震惊。
基于法院的这一推论，我们代表全体中国公民想要问一个问题：当局批准垂秀夫担任大使时难道不清楚他的身份吗？为什么在2022年没有以间谍罪驱逐垂秀夫及判决中提到的其他所有日本外交官？
随着董郁玉被定罪，每一位中国公民在与日本大使馆或可能任何其他外国大使馆及其外交官接触时，是否都需要意识到中国政府可能会将这些使馆视为“间谍组织”？中国公民也应清楚，外国外交官在中国法律的定义下有可能被认定为“间谍组织”的代理人。
每一个理智的中国公民都应该对这种推理感到愤怒。所有希望与中国及其人民进行有意义交流的外国人也应感到不安。
董郁玉二十多年来认识了许多日本及美国的记者、学者和外交官。他始终对与外国人士的交流保持透明，并长期充当中外沟通的桥梁，增进了中国与驻华日本、美国外交和新闻界的理解与交流。
董郁玉正因其在新闻工作中展现的独立性而遭受迫害。在被拘押之前，董郁玉就因发表文章而多次承受巨大压力，我们认为此次针对他的指控只是进一步加深迫害的借口。
董郁玉还因为其与外界保持原则性接触而成为攻击目标。他曾获得日本和美国多所大学的奖学金，其中包括享有盛誉的哈佛大学尼曼奖学金，但这些经历却受到中国当局的高度关注。这些当局暗示，这些奖学金是外国政府对董郁玉“服务”的回报。中国互联网上的水军甚至把尼曼奖学金当作“美国间谍”的证据，还列出历届中国籍尼曼学者的名单，呼吁当局逮捕他们。
这些指控完全荒谬。然而，这些指控连同今天的判决，为成千上万曾在海外参与学术或职业交流的中国学者和专业人士敲响了警钟。任何这样的奖学金现在都可能被中国法院认定为外国势力的“报酬”，并作为严重危害国家安全罪的证据。
董郁玉被拘留多年的事实已经对中日关系产生了寒蝉效应，而今天的判决可能会不可挽回地破坏两国高层关系。
董郁玉的定罪实际上宣告了“民间外交”的终结，而这种交往方式是中国当局一向标榜的。
正如去年多位知名学者和记者在呼吁释放董郁玉的公开信中提到：“如果中国记者、学者或外交官与外国同行的会面可能被用作证据证明中方从事间谍活动，那么谁还愿意来中国与他们交流？”
答案是：“没有人。”而中国当局今天给出了明确的回应。
对于过去几年里关心和支持董郁玉的人们，我们深表感谢。在这个极其困难的时期，你们的帮助和支持是无价的。和你们大多数人一样，我们也未能亲自见到董郁玉，只能通过他的律师——莫少平先生和尚宝军先生——了解他的情况。在此我们也向他们表示深深的谢意。
通过每月一次的律师会见，我们得知董郁玉一直坚持每天做200个俯卧撑和200个腿部抬举，他的精神状态依然高昂。他知道自己得到了来自世界各地的广泛支持，并对此深表感激。
尽管今天的判决丝毫无损于董郁玉在国际社会中知晓他工作价值的人的声誉，但中国国内的宣传无疑会误导他的同胞，而董郁玉为他们奋斗了一生。他现在将在国内被污名化为“叛国者”，而不是被视为一名始终为建设更美好中国社会而奋斗的人。对董郁玉爱国之情的无端攻击是不可接受的，我们将全力支持董郁玉对判决的上诉。
Family Statement on Dong Yuyu’s Verdict and Sentencing
29 November 2024
(Issued by the Dong Family)
Today’s verdict is a grave injustice not only to Yuyu and his family but also to every freethinking Chinese journalist and every ordinary Chinese committed to friendly engagement with the world.
Sentencing Yuyu to seven years in prison on no evidence declares to the world the bankruptcy of the justice system in China. The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court convicted Yuyu of espionage, a crime that requires that the prosecution prove that the defendant knowingly acted on behalf of “espionage organizations” and their agents.
According to the judgment, which was read in court but not shared with Yuyu’s lawyers or family, the Japanese diplomats he met with, including then-ambassador Hideo Tarumi and current Shanghai-based chief diplomat Masaru Okada, were specifically named as agents of an “espionage organization,” which is the Japanese embassy in Beijing.
We are shocked that the Chinese authorities would blatantly deem a foreign embassy as an “espionage organization” and accuse the former Japanese ambassador and his fellow diplomats of being spies.
Given this reasoning by the court, we simply want to ask on behalf of all Chinese people: Didn’t the Chinese authorities have to approve of the ambassadorship of Mr. Tarumi? Why did China not expel all Japanese diplomats, including Mr. Tarumi and everyone else named in the judgment, in 2022 for spying on our country?
With Yuyu’s conviction, every Chinese citizen, when dealing with the Japanese embassy—or perhaps any other foreign embassy and diplomat—will be expected to know that the Chinese government may consider those embassies to be “espionage organizations.” Chinese citizens should also know that foreign diplomats are potentially agents of “espionage organizations” under the meaning of Chinese law.
Every sensible Chinese citizen should be appalled by this reasoning. So should every foreigner who wishes to meaningfully engage with China and its people.
Yuyu has known numerous Japanese and American journalists, scholars, and diplomats for more than two decades. He is always transparent about his exchanges with foreign contacts and has long served as a bridge of understanding between China and the China-based diplomatic and journalistic communities from Japan and the United States.
Yuyu is being persecuted for the independence he has demonstrated during a lifetime spent as a journalist. Even before his detention, Yuyu had faced tremendous pressure numerous times for the words he published, and we believe the charges against him were an excuse for inflicting more pain and punishment.
Yuyu is also being targeted for his principled engagement with the outside world. His fellowships at Japanese and American universities, including the prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, were under intense scrutiny by Chinese authorities. These authorities suggested that foreign governments were paying Yuyu for his service by awarding him these fellowships. Chinese Internet trolls pointed to the Nieman fellowship as evidence that Yuyu was an American spy. Some even provided a list of all previous Nieman Fellows from China and called on the authorities to arrest them all.
These charges are patently absurd. But the accusations, along with today’s outrageous verdict, put tens of thousands of Chinese scholars and professionals who have been on exchanges abroad in danger. Any such fellowship could now be considered by Chinese courts to be a pay-off by a foreign actor. It could be used as evidence of a serious national security crime.
Yuyu’s yearslong detention has already had a chilling effect on Sino-Japanese ties, and his verdict today could irrevocably damage relations at the highest level.
Yuyu’s conviction effectively marks the end of “people-to-people diplomacy,” a method of engagement the Chinese authorities have always claimed to champion.
As last year’s open letter by dozens of prominent academics and journalists calling for Yuyu’s release asked: “Who would want to come to China to meet Chinese journalists, academics, or diplomats if these meetings could be used as evidence that the Chinese side is committing espionage?”
“No one” is the answer the Chinese authorities provided definitively today.
To those who have asked and cared about Yuyu in the past several years, we are eternally grateful. Your help and support has been of immeasurable value in this extremely difficult time. Like most of you, we have not been able to see Yuyu in person and have only been able to get updates from his lawyers, Mr. Mo Shaoping and Mr. Shang Baojun, to whom we also owe a debt of gratitude.
Through these lawyers, who’ve visited him once a month, Yuyu has reported that he has been consistently doing 200 pushups and 200 leg raises a day and has maintained his high spirits. He is aware of the tremendous support he has received from throughout the world. He is extremely grateful.
Even though today’s verdict does nothing to tarnish Yuyu’s reputation internationally among those who know the value of his work, the propaganda within China will undoubtedly mislead his own fellow citizens, for whom Yuyu has advocated his entire career. Yuyu will now be known as a traitor in his own country, instead of being recognized as someone who always fought for a better Chinese society. This baseless assault on Yuyu’s love for his country is unacceptable, and we will support Yuyu’s upcoming appeal of his conviction.
