Germany and France are dismayed by the 12-year prison sentence that was handed down to Chinese journalist Huang Qi by the Mianyang People’s Court on 29 July. Huang was arrested and punished for his work as a journalist in the course of which he campaigned for freedom of expression as guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution and laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In view of his poor health, we call on the Chinese authorities to release Huang immediately on humanitarian grounds and to refrain from arbitrary police measures against his family, in particular his 85-year-old mother, who is under house arrest.