时事新闻:央视女记者因受贿罪获刑

【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.

【中文译文】

一桩离奇的案件终于有了结果。据新华社报导，中国中央电视台的一名女记者因在山西省收受贿赂而被判处有期徒刑三年，缓期四年执行。

山西省太原市杏花岭区人民法院认定，31岁的李敏收取了接受当地检察机关调查的某人弟弟的3.7万元贿赂。法院还称，去年秋季李敏利用其作为国家媒体工作人员的职务，干扰本案的侦查活动。新华社报导称，李敏表示认罪，并说不会上诉。

去年，李敏同另外两名记者从北京前往山西，报导广东省一家房地产公司的总经理吴晓辉与山西省太原市企业家郝建秀之间的纠纷。

根据此前的报导，吴晓辉曾被山西执法机关逮捕过三次，每次都因证据不足而获释放。去年11月，吴晓辉再次被捕。

据法院文件称，吴晓辉的弟弟吴晓华在2008年7月认识了李敏。

去年11月，李敏向中央电视台提交了一份报导，称太原市杏花岭区检察机关在吴晓辉一案中滥用权力。

次月，李敏被指控接受了吴晓华价值20万元的现金和昂贵物品（包括一辆轿车）而被逮捕。李敏在辩护中说，她与吴晓华是恋人关系，她接受的这些物品属于礼物，而非贿赂。

尽管李敏与吴晓华的关系同她对吴晓辉一案的报导之间明显存在利益冲突，但一些观察人士也把李敏被逮捕视为政府部门干涉新闻自由的又一起案件。中国媒体报导说，其他参加调查的记者被责令离开太原，并被威胁如果留在当地不走，将会没收他们的记者证。

公众对李敏一案的争论主要集中在两个问题上：她收到的轿车是否应算作贿赂；以及作为记者，她是否应以受贿罪被指控。

根据本周法院的最终报告，李敏的律师最终成功地将轿车从贿赂物品清单中去掉，令收取贿赂的数额仅为3.7万元。

中国刑法对受贿罪的定义是，国家工作人员利用职务上的便利，索取或非法收受他人财物。在本案中，山西检察机关成功地将李敏列入到国家工作人员行列，因为中央电视台是由国家运营的。不过，在现实中，中国的记者在参加新闻发布会或其它企业活动时收取作为路费补偿的“红包”的现象并不罕见。