時事新聞:央視女記者因受賄罪獲刑
【英文原文】
CCTV Reporter Found Guilty of Bribery
In the conclusion to a strange case, a reporter from China’s state-owned Central Television (CCTV) received a suspended sentence of three years (plus a four-year probation period) for taking a bribe in the northern province of Shanxi, according to Xinhua.
The Xinghualing District Court in Taiyuan city, capital of Shanxi, found 31-year-old Li Min guilty of taking 37,000 yuan from the brother of a man who was under investigation by local prosecutors. The court also said Ms. Li abused her position as a state media worker to intervene in the case last fall. Ms. Li pled guilty and said she would not appeal the sentence, Xinhua reported (in Chinese here).
Last year, Ms. Li traveled with two other journalists from Beijing to Shanxi to report on a dispute between two businessmen: Wu Xiaohui, general manager of a Guangdong-based real estate company, and Hao Jianxiu, a local businessman from Taiyuan city, Shanxi province.
According to previous reports, Wu Xiaohui had been arrested three times by Shanxi authorities and released each time for lack of evidence. Mr. Wu was arrested again in November last year.
Wu Xiaohua, the jailed Wu’s younger brother, met Ms. Li in July 2008, according to court documents.
In November, Li filed a CCTV report alleging that the Xinghualing procuratorate was abusing its power by prosecuting Wu Xiaohui.
Ms. Li was arrested the following month for accepting cash and expensive items (including a car) worth 200,000 yuan from the jailed man’s brother. In her defense, Ms. Li said that she was in a romantic relationship with Wu Xiaohua and that the items she had received were gifts and not bribes.
Despite the apparent conflict of interest between Ms. Li’s relationship with Wu Xiaohua and her reporting on his brother’s legal troubles, some observers interpret Ms. Li’s arrest as another case of official interference with press freedoms. Chinese media reported that other visiting reporters investigating were ordered to leave the city and threatened with revocation of their journalist credentials if they stayed.
Public debate over Ms. Li’s case has focused largely on two issues: whether the car she received should be considered a bribe; and whether, as a reporter, she should be charged with accepting bribes.
Ms. Li’s lawyer ultimately succeeded in having the car removed from the list of bribery items, according to the court’s final report this week, which put the amount involved at only 37,000 yuan.
China’s criminal law defines the crime of bribery as occurring when “state personnel take advantage of their office to demand money and things from other people” or when they “obtain favors.” In this case, the Shanxi procuratorate’s office successfully argued that Ms. Li was an employee of a government organization, since CCTV is run by the state. However, in practice, it is common for Chinese journalists to receive “red packets” filled with cash for attending press conferences and other corporate events, purportedly to cover their travel expenses.
【中文譯文】
一樁離奇的案件終於有了結果。據新華社報導，中國中央電視臺的一名女記者因在山西省收受賄賂而被判處有期徒刑三年，緩期四年執行。
山西省太原市杏花嶺區人民法院認定，31歲的李敏收取了接受當地檢察機關調查的某人弟弟的3.7萬元賄賂。法院還稱，去年秋季李敏利用其作爲國家媒體工作人員的職務，干擾本案的偵查活動。新華社報導稱，李敏表示認罪，並說不會上訴。
去年，李敏同另外兩名記者從北京前往山西，報導廣東省一家房地產公司的總經理吳曉輝與山西省太原市企業家郝建秀之間的糾紛。
根據此前的報導，吳曉輝曾被山西執法機關逮捕過三次，每次都因證據不足而獲釋放。去年11月，吳曉輝再次被捕。
據法院文件稱，吳曉輝的弟弟吳曉華在2008年7月認識了李敏。
去年11月，李敏向中央電視臺提交了一份報導，稱太原市杏花嶺區檢察機關在吳曉輝一案中濫用權力。
次月，李敏被指控接受了吳曉華價值20萬元的現金和昂貴物品（包括一輛轎車）而被逮捕。李敏在辯護中說，她與吳曉華是戀人關係，她接受的這些物品屬於禮物，而非賄賂。
儘管李敏與吳曉華的關係同她對吳曉輝一案的報導之間明顯存在利益衝突，但一些觀察人士也把李敏被逮捕視爲政府部門干涉新聞自由的又一起案件。中國媒體報導說，其他參加調查的記者被責令離開太原，並被威脅如果留在當地不走，將會沒收他們的記者證。
公衆對李敏一案的爭論主要集中在兩個問題上：她收到的轎車是否應算作賄賂；以及作爲記者，她是否應以受賄罪被指控。
根據本週法院的最終報告，李敏的律師最終成功地將轎車從賄賂物品清單中去掉，令收取賄賂的數額僅爲3.7萬元。
中國刑法對受賄罪的定義是，國家工作人員利用職務上的便利，索取或非法收受他人財物。在本案中，山西檢察機關成功地將李敏列入到國家工作人員行列，因爲中央電視臺是由國家運營的。不過，在現實中，中國的記者在參加新聞發佈會或其它企業活動時收取作爲路費補償的“紅包”的現象並不罕見。
