Shen Yongping (; born November 23, 1980) is a Chinese filmmaker who was arrested and imprisoned after making a documentary about the Chinese Constitution. Shen's documentary, entitled "A Hundred Years of Constitutionalism", was posted online and downloaded for free, and hundreds of DVDs were provided for free to people who contribute money to the film's production. Shen was detained in April 2014 and jailed in

Chaoyang District, Beijing Chaoyang District () is an urban list of administrative divisions of Beijing, district of Beijing. It borders the districts of Shunyi, Beijing, Shunyi to the northeast, Tongzhou, Beijing, Tongzhou to the east and southeast, Daxing, Beijing, Daxin ...

, and was formally arrested on June 4. The Beijing Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television discovered 4,000 copies of Shen's documentary in his apartment, which officials said were illegal publications. In his indictment, prosecutors argued Shen had a "weak understanding of the rule of law" when he released the film, and that he "disrupted the market order in a particularly serious manner". After a

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

district court hearing that began on December 12, 2014, Shen was sentenced to one year in prison for illegal business activities. His attorney has disputed the allegation, saying Shen did not make the film for profit, and claims he will appeal the decision. Shen's supporters suggest his arrest was a thinly veiled punishment for his film's criticism of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP)'s failure to uphold the country's constitution. Shen's arrest and conviction is one of a series of examples of general secretary of the CCP

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

taking a hard line against protestors, dissenters and artists critical of the CCP. Shen was counted by the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...

as one of 44 journalists arrested in China in 2014, the most from any country that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shen, Yongping 1980 births Living people Chinese documentary filmmakers Chinese prisoners and detainees Chinese dissidents

See also

References