Chinese civil society has been handed a Pyrrhic victory after a veteran journalist had her jail sentence for “disclosing state secrets” cut by two years in return for her admission of guilt.

Gao Yu, 71, known for her trenchant criticism of the government, had her sentence reduced to five years from seven on Thursday. She was sentenced in April, five months after her conviction in a closed-door trial that came amid a clampdown on independent journalism and civil society.

Beijing accused Gao of supplying a US-based Chinese news outlet with a copy of “Document Number 9”, a Communist party memorandum on ideological correctness that attacked liberal political ideas. The organisation to which she is alleged to have sent it, Mirror Media Group, has denied receiving it from her.