BEIJING – A veteran journalist who is one of the best-known intellectuals to have been imprisoned for supporting the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests has gone on trial in closed-door proceedings in Beijing on new accusations of leaking state secrets.
Gao Yu, 70, was detained for illegally obtaining a secret Communist Party document and providing it to a website for publication, according to previous state media reports.
Those reports did not identify the document, but it appeared to refer to reports outside the mainland last year about a high-level, internal circular seen as outlining the party's strategy of attacking Western democratic ideals and crushing dissent to protect its rule.
Gao was standing trial at Beijing No. 3 People's Intermediate Court. Police prevented journalists from entering the proceedings, but confirmed that the trial was under way. Her lawyer, Shang Baojun, said the independent journalist faced a charge of revealing state secrets.
Gao previously was imprisoned on state secrets charges for more than a year after the 1989 crackdown. She was detained in April, weeks before the 25th anniversary of the bloody military suppression of the protesters that killed at least hundreds.
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