Chinese newspaper calls for journalist's release

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/23/chinese-newspaper-calls-journalists-release

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A Chinese newspaper has made a rare front-page appeal for police to release one of its reporters after he was detained for writing reports alleging financial misdeeds at a large construction equipment company.

The New Express newspaper said there was no evidence the journalist, Chen Yongzhou, had committed any crime.

The paper said Chen was being punished for a series of reports he wrote that scrutinized the finances of Zoomlion, a construction company listed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

Police in the Hunan provincial capital, Changsha, said on their official microblog that the journalist had been detained for alleged "damage to business reputation".

Zoomlion is the second-largest construction equipment maker in China and its largest shareholder is the Hunan provincial government.

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