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For 12 years, the nameless Chinese language blogger program-think eluded authorities whereas writing on probably the most delicate of matters: the Nice Firewall, the Tiananmen Bloodbath, high-level factional politics, freedom of speech, and extra. However since its most up-to-date publish on Could 9, 2021, the weblog has remained silent. Observers had been left questioning: who was program-think and what occurred to him? Now, a Shanghai lady whose husband was arrested on Could 10, 2021, and sentenced this February to seven years in jail for “inciting subversion of state energy,” thinks she is aware of the reply. Bei Zhenying believes that her husband Ruan Xiaohuan, a gifted programmer and prolific blogger, was program-think. In a collection of interviews given to the Committee to Defend Journalists, Radio Free Asia, and CNN, Bei detailed the fees towards Ruan, how she got here to suspect he was program-think, and his flip from running a blog about data know-how to politics. The CPJ documented the fees towards Ruan and famous that authorities denied Ruan illustration by the outstanding human rights legal professionals Bei had recruited to defend him:
On February 10, a courtroom in Shanghai sentenced Ruan to seven years in jail for allegedly inciting the subversion of state energy, in keeping with a number of information stories and Ruan’s lawyer Shang Baojun, who spoke with CPJ through messaging app.
[…] A duplicate of the decision reviewed by CPJ stated that Ruan was additionally sentenced to the deprivation of his political rights for 2 years and the confiscation of 20,000 renminbi (US$2,904) value of property.
Bei informed CPJ that Ruan’s closed-door trial started about six months after his arrest however then she acquired a discover from authorities in March 2022 that it had been paused indefinitely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She stated she doubted that it was “even humane” to detain him for that lengthy earlier than his sentencing.
Bei was not allowed to attend any hearings in Ruan’s trial, and the state-assigned legal professionals within the case informed her that they may not give her any details about the proceedings as a consequence of nondisclosure agreements they’d signed. The primary time she noticed Ruan since his arrest was on the February 10 verdict announcement.
“He misplaced a whole lot of weight and his hair has grown white,” stated Bei. “However in any other case he regarded tremendous.”
Ruan filed an attraction on the day of his verdict, however the appeals courtroom refused to acknowledge Shang as his lawyer, Shang informed CPJ. The courtroom additionally refused to acknowledge [Mo Shaoping], and as a substitute gave Ruan two state-assigned legal professionals. [Source]
This is a Redditor explaining why Ruan is more likely to be Programthink. The person searched a leaked database and located the password of Programthink’s gmail. He then discovered that the password was additionally used for an account known as “xhruan”.https://t.co/guKrqp85Uk去年我定位到编程随想的过程/
— Wenhao (@ThisIsWenhao) March 22, 2023
At Radio Free Asia, Gao Feng additionally spoke with Bei Zhenying and certainly one of Ruan’s associates, the latter of whom speculated that Ruan’s writings on high-level corruption crossed authorities’ unstated purple strains:
“My husband principally admits that he wrote the posts, however stated he did it in an effort to make issues higher,” she stated. “He additionally submitted proof of his contributions to the nation, and by no means anticipated that the courtroom would deal with it as a critical crime.”
“The punishment of seven years is on the lighter finish of the doable vary of 5-15 years,” she stated.
[…] Certainly one of Ruan’s associates informed Radio Free Asia on the time of his detention that he was probably detained over an in-depth evaluation of get together leaders’ wealth following the publication of the Panama Papers in 2016, and his political theorizing and anti-brainwashing campaigns.
The particular person stated Ruan’s weblog had turned him from an uncritical supporter of the federal government to somebody who “longs for freedom and democracy.” [Source]
CNN’s Nectar Gan interviewed Bei and realized how she got here to consider her husband was program-think:
She realized throughout police investigations that her husband had posted greater than 700 articles on an abroad platform – simply as Program Assume did.
“It could actually’t be only a coincidence,” Bei stated.
She burst into tears at an web cafe the second she drew what she believes to be the connection between her husband and the influential blogger, she recalled.
“I got here to understand how a lot strain he had been below for such a very long time. He was doing all these harmful issues, carrying a lot weight on his shoulders all by himself,” she stated.
“Even after he was caught, nobody might assist him as a result of no person knew he was Program Assume.”
[…] Ruan by no means cared a lot about cash or materials consolation. As an alternative, he longed for what he known as the “open supply spirit” – freedom, openness, sharing and cooperation, Bei stated.
“He thinks one should pursue non secular values in life. For him, it’s know-how – that’s what he finds priceless. However solely just lately did I uncover that his (quest) for freedom had additionally morphed right into a (eager for) political freedom,” she stated. [Source]
Extremely advocate: the legendary tech/political blogger Program Assume (Ruan Xiaohuan), the epitome of the battle for web freedom from inside China.
“Underneath the Communist Occasion’s ubiquitous surveillance – each on-line and in actual life, he managed to hold on for 12 years – that… https://t.co/xQO57DKcJp— 周锋锁 Fengsuo Zhou (@ZhouFengSuo) March 29, 2023
PEN America and PEN Worldwide launched a joint assertion calling for Ruan’s speedy launch:
“The seven-year jail sentence handed right down to Ruan Xiaohuan for his politics and know-how weblog is an outrage. Running a blog will not be against the law and the heavy jail sentence on nationwide safety costs for his writing illustrates the dire state of affairs totally free expression in China. We name on Chinese language authorities to vacate his jail sentence and launch him instantly,” stated Angeli Datt, PEN America’s China analysis and advocacy lead.
“The extreme sentence towards Ruan Xiaohuan is one more instance of the authorities’ willingness to make use of each means accessible to silence dissenting voices. It’s notable that PRC authorities representatives proceed to freely publish on social media platforms banned in China whereas persecuting others who search the identical freedoms,” stated Ross Holder, Head of Asia/ Pacific Area at PEN Worldwide. [Source]
CDT translated consultant excerpts from three of program-think’s posts quickly after his disappearance in 2021.
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