Zhang Zhan receives the Difference Day Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression on World Press Freedom Day 2021
张展于2021年5月3日世界新闻自由日获言论自由荣誉奖。张展关注组发言人代发表获奖感言（中文版见下方）
Acceptance speech on behalf of Zhang Zhan:
Thank you so much. It is my great honour to receive this award on behalf of imprisoned Zhang Zhan. I have never met her in real life but I have talked to people who know her personally. I am the spokesperson for Zhang Zhan Concern Group, a group dedicated to telling her story to the world.
Zhang Zhan once said, “We should seek truth and seek it at all costs.” Her story is all about seeking truth at all costs.
For decades, the people of China have been subjected to man-made catastrophes - the Great Famine, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the camps in Xinjiang, to name but a few. Even with natural disasters, government cover-ups result in undue panic, unnecessary deaths and unvented grief, making human suffering even more unbearable. Zhang Zhan witnessed the muted anguish of people in Wuhan; the bereaved are not even allowed to mourn! People long for truth and justice so that healing could take place.
“Do not let China regress into another North Korea.” This is a message to the world from Zhang Zhan. The ongoing pandemic is a wake-up call. Suppressing facts, withholding data, whitewashing, disinformation… These are totalitarian instincts. The Communist Party can’t help but lie, even when public health is involved and the whole world is at stake. A high-tech totalitarian China is proven to pose a serious threat to humanity.
“Truth has always been the most expensive thing in the world. It is our life,” said Zhang Zhan. How right she is. Look at the enormous death tolls and damages caused by the pandemic. If only the world had known the truth about this virus in those crucial early days and weeks...
Zhang Zhan has been silenced; another citizen journalist Fang Bin is still missing. It falls to us to keep seeking the truth. Let us be inspired by Zhang Zhan’s courage and unyielding spirit. She never gives up. We shouldn’t either. Thank you.
非常感谢。今晚我很荣幸代狱中张展领取这个奖项。我本人从未在现实生活中和张展见过面，但我与认识她的朋友交谈过。他们还在中国，因此难以公开表达对张展的支持。我是张展关注组发言人，我们这个群组致力于向全世界讲述张展的故事。
张展说过：“当然应该寻求真理，不计成本地寻求。”张展的故事就是不惜一切寻求真理、讲出真相的故事。
数十载以来，中国人民一直遭受人为造成的灾难，如大饥荒、六四屠杀、新疆集中营。即便是自然灾难，当局掩盖事实导致不必要的恐慌、无谓的伤亡、无处诉说的悲伤，令苦难愈发惨重。张展目睹了武汉市民被迫默默承受苦痛，甚至无法哀悼逝世的亲人。人们渴望真相、正义，否则伤痛永难愈合。
“不要让中国退回到朝鲜”，这是张展给世人的信息。当前这场全球瘟疫敲响了警钟。压制事实、隐瞒数据、掩盖、造谣……均为极权本能。中共说谎成性，即便事关公共健康，竟不顾其全球灾难性后果，证明高科技极权中国对人类带来严重威胁。
“真理一直是这个世界最昂贵的东西，它就是我们的生命。” 张展的话一针见血。这场瘟疫导致全球无数人丧生、损失无可估量。假若世人能够在那关键的最初几天、几周中知道关于此病毒的真相该多好......
张展已被噤声，另一位公民记者方斌仍在失踪中，轮到我们追问真相。愿张展的勇气和不屈的精神激励我们。她永不放弃，我们也不应放弃。谢谢！