After months behind bars, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers left a detention center Tuesday after receiving a suspended prison sentence in a case involving online comments critical of the ruling Communist Party.
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Mahmood said the family had planned to visit relatives in Southern California and visit Disneyland and Universal Studios. Creasy’s office told The Associated Press Wednesday that she had written to Cameron seeking his intervention.
The conviction was based on social media posts in which Pu criticised government officials and policies.
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Activists said the three-year suspended sentence for Pu would serve as a strong reminder to other rights lawyers that the Communist Party, now engaged in a severe clampdown on dissent, would brook no challenge to its rule.
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“CHRD urges the global community to push for Pu Zhiqiang’s unconditional freedom and end China’s ongoing persecution of human rights lawyers”, the group said in a statement on its website.
Pu was released into “residential surveillance” – a form of detention in China that is used to keep dissidents in sites away from the public eye – where he will remain for 10 days before being allowed to go back to his home in Beijing, said Mo Shaoping, a second lawyer for Pu.
Experts say the suspended sentence means Pu can avoid serving time in jail, but could be monitored during the suspension period. The guilty verdict likely means he will no longer be able to practice law.
Xinhua said Pu had apologised and showed his willingness to accept punishment during the trial and claimed that Pu told the court that through his ordeal, “he has experienced the progress of rule of law, the improvement of the law and progress of society”.
During the open trial last week, Pu only expressed his willingness to apologize to anyone, who was offended by his “sharp, caustic and sometimes vulgar” comments online and insisted that his actions did not warrant the two charges.
Among them, Beijing-based rights activist Zhang Baocheng said worldwide and domestic pressure contributed to the suspended sentence instead of a full-fledged prison term.
Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer, was convicted by a Beijing court on Tuesday, Dec. 22, for what most observers consider dubious and politically-inspired charges.
“He also said if there’s an opportunity, history will deliver a true judgment”.
Human rights group Amnesty International welcomed the suspended sentence but condemned the guilty verdict. “He is one of China’s most courageous defenders of the right to freedom of expression, and he’s been persecuted for simply exercising that right”.
The state-run news agency Xinhua said yesterday that, during his trial, Pu had “acknowledged the crimes the prosecutors charged him with”.
Pu’s lawyer Shang Baojun told South China Morning Post that his Advocate licence would be permanently revoked as lawyers who have been convicted are barred from practising by law.
Another Weibo user wrote that “we have to understand that Pu is unwilling to plead guilty because doing so is not only dishonest to himself but also a deceit to the country, the government and the public”.
From the auto, Pu said he was “safe and sound” in a text message sent to The Associated Press.
But Hong Lei, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said foreign governments must respect China’s judicial sovereignty and should not interfere.
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Police and plainclothes security officers prevented foreign reporters, Pu’s supporters and diplomats from the United States, the European Union and Switzerland from approaching the court.
