One of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers is due to stand trial on Monday for comments on social media that were critical of the ruling Communist Party in a case that worldwide rights groups say is political persecution.
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The charges relate to a number of posts on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo that questioned the party’s policies toward the Tibetan and Uighur (WEE-gur) ethnic minorities in the Tibet and Xinjiang regions, and mocked political figures.
Police scuffled with activists who showed up outside of the courthouse to protest the trial, and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China accused police of roughing up journalists who were covering the demonstrations.
“We urge the Chinese authorities to release Mr Pu and call upon China to uphold fundamental civil rights”.
With clients including artist Ai Weiwei, he pushed hard for the eventual abolition of the labor camp system.
Cops push away foreign reporters masking human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang’s trial at the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Courtroom Mon., Dec. 14, 2015.
The main accusations against Pu revolve around seven microblog posts on his online accounts, his lawyers say.
“Pu’s trial is extremely significant – he is the ultimate canary in the coalmine”, said Maya Wang, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch.
However an official Chinese newspaper last week angrily denounced foreign criticism of the legal process, saying the country must reject Western pressure regarding Pu’s trial. “If they decide to be harsh against him, I’d say it’ll signify a further escalation of hostility towards human rights activism”.
Pu’s other lawyer Mo Shaoping said prosecutors had not demonstrated that any of Pu’s postings had provoked troubles or incited ethnic tensions. One said ‘Pu Zhiqiang is not guilty.’ Another read ‘Free Pu Zhiqiang’.
Pu, who is also a successful commercial lawyer, had won wide praise from liberal sections of the Chinese media.
Mr Pu was detained early in May 2014 after attending an event to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. He had participated in the 1989 protests.
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In the past two years, the government has launched a crackdown on online rumours, detained hundreds of human rights lawyers in a nationwide sweep, and jailed a journalist on a charge of leaking state secrets.
