COVID-19 whistleblowing citizen journalist Zhang Zhan will soon undergo a second trial in Shanghai on public order charges amid reports she is once more refusing food in detention, people familiar with the case told RFA Mandarin. Zhang, 40, was one of a group of citizen journalists detained, jailed or “disappeared” after they went to the central city of Wuhan to report on the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2020, she wasfound guilty of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” -- a vague charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Communist Party -- and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Last June, she was released from that sentence, during which she repeatedly refused food, but then was re-detained in September 2024.