Journalists’ group wants detention explained

The All-China Journalists Association has urged local authorities to explain the controversial detention of a reporter who wrote about "financial problems" at a leading engineering company.迷你倉The New Express Daily newspaper, based in Guangzhou, capital of the southern Guangdong Province, published a front-page plea for the second day yesterday, urging police to free its journalist, Chen Yongzhou.Chen was arrested last Saturday in connection with articles about Zoomlion, based in Changsha, capital of the central Hunan Province."We hope that related authorities in Hunan will present a convincing and justice-based explanation (on the matter)," the association said yesterday.The association also called on police to handle the case according to the law, guarantee the journalist's safety and prevent the extortion of confessions through torture, The Beijing News quoted an association official as saying yesterday.On Wednesday, the paper carried a full-page editorial under the headline "Please release him."Chen was detained in Guangzhou by Changsha police on "suspicion of damaging business reputation" after he reported "financial problems" at Zoomlion.According 文件倉o a source with the Changsha public security bureau, the newspaper and Chen allegedly "fabricated facts and printed 18 negative reports about Zoomlion without a verification process."Of the 18 reports, 14 were by Chen. The articles were written between September 2012 and August this year.The New Express Daily denied Zoomlion's accusation, saying Chen's reports were objective."We did not discover that Chen did anything against professional ethics and laws," said a senior executive.The Changsha public security bureau said it approved the criminal detention of Chen in accordance with the law.Chen's accusations that Zoomlion caused losses of state assets, falsified sales and financial figures, and had massive advertising costs were all fabricated, according to the public security bureau.The bureau invited Hunan Diyang Judicial Identification Office to verify the losses in the 18 reports on September 17 and found Chen was suspected of faking and spreading false facts, damaging Zoomlion's business reputation and causing the company heavy losses.The All-China Journalists Association also called for the early release of Chen if no evidence of a crime is found.存倉