Chinese Reporter Is Killed While Investigating Mine

VIENNA, Austria — A global press watchdog yesterday condemned the recent killing of a Chinese reporter and urged authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

China Trade News reporter Lan Chengzhang died on January 10, one day after he was beaten by unknown assailants while conducting interviews for an assignment at a coal mine in Shanxi, a northern province that is a center of the country's notoriously dangerous and corrupt mining industry.

The Vienna-based International Press Institute said it was "deeply disturbed" by the killing and noted that in 2006, two other journalists died in China after being beaten.

"The killing of investigative journalists in China threatens to discourage this most important kind of journalism," IPI Director Johann Fritz said in the statement. "IPI therefore urges the Chinese authorities to do everything in their power to make sure that the perpetrators of such crimes are brought to justice according to international standards."