Chinese publisher Lü Hua is serving a sentence of 10 years on extortion charges. Police in the city of Huanggang arrested Lü, founder of the independent news website Hubei Xinshidianwang, in late April 2023, and held him incommunicado for more than a month.
Lü founded Hubei Xinshidianwang (Hubei New Perspective Site), which reports on local crime, corruption, social issues, and weather in Huanggang city in central Hubei province, according to CPJ’s review. In early April 2023, the outlet published an investigation, which was covered by other domestic media outlets, about a local official in eastern Hubei who allegedly used public money to build herself a luxurious bedroom in a government office building. The story has since been removed from the outlet’s website, which has not been updated since Lü’s arrest.
On April 19, 2023, police arrested Lü in Huanggang, according to a report in late July by state-owned provincial newspaper Hubei Daily and a mid-August report by the Chinese-language human rights news website Weiquanwang.
Hubei Daily reported that Lü and another suspect were arrested for allegedly extorting advertisers, and that their equipment was seized and their bank accounts frozen.
In September 2024, Weiquanwang reported that Lü was allegedly secretly convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in early 2024; however, that report was not confirmed by Lü’s family or the authorities.
As of late 2024, CPJ could not determine where Lü’s was being held or his health status.
Huanggang city police did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment in late 2024.