China: Documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin sentenced to three and a half years for covering historic protests against censorship
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by the three-and-a-half-year prison sentence handed to Chinese documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin, found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for his film documenting the 2022 “White Paper” protests against censorship and regime abuses.
On 6 January 2025, a court in Shanghai sentenced documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin, also known as Plato, to three and a half years in prison following a closed trial. The 33-year-old filmmaker was convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” for releasing a documentary about the “White Paper” protests movement that spread across China at the end of 2022.
Chen was detained in November 2023 following the release of his documentary Urumqi Middle Road. The film recounts the protests, which originally arose in response to the restrictions imposed by the anti-Covid-19 policy, during which demonstrators held up blank sheets of paper to denounce the regime's censorship and abuses. The documentary, shared on YouTube and X—platforms banned in China—also highlights the brutal police crackdown on what became the largest wave of protests since the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989.
“Documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin was only serving the public interest by documenting historic protests against censorship and abuses by the Chinese regime. By branding him a troublemaker, Beijing demonstrates its utter contempt for the right to information. We call on the international community to increase pressure on the regime to secure the release of Chen Pinlin, along with the 123 other journalists and press freedom defenders currently detained in the country.
In China, independent journalists who address issues deemed sensitive by the regime often face charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Zhang Zhan, a journalist sentenced to four years in prison in 2020 for reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak, is an emblematic example. Released in May 2024, she has been criminally detained under the same charge since August 2024, this time after posting information on social media about the harassment of activists in China.
Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he has fostered a media culture reminiscent of the Maoist era, where seeking information or sharing it freely is criminalised. RSF’s report ”The Great Leap Backwards of Journalism in China”, reveals the regime’s extensive efforts to control media outlets and the dissemination of information — both domestically and internationally.
China, the world’s biggest prison for journalists and press freedom defenders with at least 124 media workers currently behind bars, is ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
