Chinese filmmaker faces five years in prison for documenting the White Paper protests
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin, charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for having released a report on the 2022 White Paper protests denouncing the Chinese regime’s abuses.
Chinese authorities charged documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin, also known as Plato, on 18 February 2024 with “picking quarrels and provoking troubles” for having released a report on the “White Paper protests” in the city of Shanghai, East China. His documentary movie – Urumqi Middle Road – sheds light onto this series of demonstrations where peaceful protesters held up blank sheets of paper to denounce the Chinese regime’s censorship and abuse – and their repression by the police in late November. Chen Pinlin has been detained in Shanghai since January 2024 and he faces a five-year prison sentence.
“Documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin has only ever served the public interest by reporting on historical protests against the regime's abuses and should never have been arrested. We call on democracies to increase pressure on Chinese authorities to ensure that all charges against Chen are dropped and that he is released along with the remaining 120 press freedom defenders detained in the country.
The Chinese regime has been conducting a full-scale crusade against journalism since leader Xi Jinping took power in 2012. China is ranked 179th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF's 2023 World Press Freedom Index. It is the world's largest captor of journalists and press freedom defenders, with at least 121 detainees.
