Incarcerated Chinese reporter Liu Hu was released on bail this Sunday after a year in detention on defamation charges, Reporters Without Borders said. Liu was arrested on Aug. 24, 2013 for urging authorities to investigate deputy director of the Chongqing State Administration for Industry and Commerce, Ma Zhengqi, concerning job "negligence", and put into Beijing's No. 1 Detention Center. 

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Liu's lawyer, Zhou Ze, said on the microblogging site Weibo "I received notification from an official at the Beijing Eastern District prosecutor's office that Liu Hu is being released on bail, because they are unable to proceed with his case in the allotted timeframe."

Shenzhen lawyer Li Guobin, a friend of Liu, disapproves of the release on bail. "This goes against all legal principles," he told Radio Free Asia. "If he's guilty, try him. If not, release him. What's there to bail?"

The arrest and detainment contrasts with Chinese president Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign to crack down on government corruption. An official statement, now leaked, was secretly sent last week to Chinese media saying "The media will not interview, report, or comment on Modern Express reporter Liu Hu."

Andrew Wedeman, political science professor at Georgia State University, commented "Every anti-corruption campaign is an exercise in public relations. They're trying to build legitimacy." The Chinese government's internal disciplinary section published numbers in an effort to do just that: 182,000 officials have been punished in various ways for corruption last year, it said. For example, the former police chief of Dongguan was removed for failing to prevent the spread of prostitution.

Liu was a journalist for Guangzhou-based Xin Kuai Bao (Modern Express) upon arrest. He still faces trial on defamation charges. He has since returned to his home in Chongqing and reunited with his family; his daughter had not seen him for a year.

TagsImprisonment, Arrested, detained, release, released