article_snippet.sent: Gao Yu - named one of the International Press Institute's 50 'world press heroes' in 2000 - 'illegally provided state secrets to foreigners', Beijing's No. 3
article_snippet.sent: The ruling stated Gao had leaked a 2013 directive by the ruling Communist party named 'Document number 9' to a Hong Kong media outlet.
article_snippet.sent: Gao Yu, 71, has been jailed for seven years for 'illegally providing state secrets to foreigners' in the shape of a government document warning against the 'dangers' of press freedom to a Hong Kong media outlet .
article_snippet.sent: China's definition of 'state secrets' is notoriously broad, taking in the number of people executed each year, information about pollution and databases listing commercial companies.
article_snippet.sent: Prosecutors said that a researcher affiliated with China's agriculture ministry gave Gao a copy of 'Document number 9' in 2013, according to a copy of the verdict posted online by Gao Yu and confirmed to AFP by Shang.
article_snippet.sent: The prosecution said Gao had used the online telecommunications tool Skype to transfer the document to Ho Pin, head of Hong Kong-based publishing house Mirror Books, one of many outlets which has released the text in the last two years.
highlights_snippet.sent: Gao Yu, 71, gave 'state secrets to foreigners', according to Beijing court .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Ruled that Gao Yu leaked Communist party missive to Hong Kong media outlet .
  