Fang Bin, to be released later this month, disappeared after filming from Wuhan in early days of COVID-19 outbreak
Credit: AFP
Citizen journalist Fang Bin, who disappeared for three years after filming from hospitals and funeral homes early in the COVID-19 pandemic from the city of Wuhan, had been sentenced in secret to three years in prison, Radio Free Asia has learned.
Fang went incommunicado after a Feb. 1, 2020, livestream from Wuhan healthcare facilities, and made a couple more videos in the days that followed about his interrogation by police, before falling silent for three years, with no news of his fate.
He was among a number of high-profile bloggers who tried to report on the emerging and little-understood viral outbreak from Wuhan. His report also described the pandemic as a "man-made" disaster, calling on people to resist government "tyranny."
Fang’s family was notified by police that he will be released from prison on April 30, said a person familiar with the case who declined to be identified for reasons of personal safety.
"Fang Bin was sentenced in secret by the Jiang'an District People's Court to more than three years' imprisonment," the person said. "The family hasn't received any legal documents or a copy of the judgment, however ... and they don’t know the nature of the charges."
Fang had served his sentence in the Xiaojunshan former juvenile correctional center in Wuhan's Jiangxia district, the source said.
"He may have been held in solitary...
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