Overview
- Chengdu police said on Feb. 2 that a 50-year-old surnamed Liu and a 34-year-old surnamed Wu are under investigation for spreading false accusations and illegal business operations and have been placed under criminal coercive measures.
- Rights groups and Chinese media identified the pair as investigative journalist Liu Hu and a colleague surnamed Wu.
- The investigation followed an online article alleging abuse of power by Pu Fayou, the Communist Party secretary of Pujiang county in Sichuan, which has since been removed from WeChat.
- Reporters Without Borders condemned the detentions and cited China’s near-bottom ranking in its Press Freedom Index as evidence of a hostile environment for independent reporting.
- A staff member at the Pujiang party committee office told the South China Morning Post that a joint team is giving high priority to examining the allegations raised in the article.