China human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has received a suspended three-year sentence for “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels” in online posts.
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The suspended sentence means Pu has been put on probation for three years and if he violates the terms or commits offences in the next three years, he would be required to serve his original sentence, legal experts say. He is now under “residential surveillance”.
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“Pu isn’t guilty”, Ai told Reuters from Italy by telephone.
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For the next three years Pu will be subject to police monitoring and needs permission to leave Beijing.
Since coming to power in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping has spearheaded crackdowns on civil activists, rights lawyers and online freedom of expression, in moves aimed at snuffing out any potential threats to the Communist Party’s grip on power.
Mr. Pu’s lawyers and supporters say his messages weren’t unusually inflammatory by the standards of Chinese social media. During his time behind bars, authorities whittled down the charges against him until he stood accused of sending seven critical tweets between 2011 and 2014. In another post, Bequelin said Pu’s sentence was a “political compromise” that allowed the regime’s public security authorities to “save face and keep the screws on Pu”. “I will visit him as soon as possible”.
“He said he thanks everyone and he wants to rest”, he added.
Although Pu has argued that his actions should be protected under China’s constitutional guarantees to free speech, he told the court on Tuesday that he has no intention to appeal. If he abides by the law and complies with conditions set by the court, Pu’s sentence will be commuted.
“I was just walking past in front of them when they grabbed me as well”, Ye said.
Mo said Pu was allowed to be with his wife but declined to disclose Pu’s exact location.
“From the beginning this is a case where people do not know whether to laugh or cry”, he said.
Pedestrians past a police line near the Beijing No. 2 People’s Intermediate Court where human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was sentenced in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015.
Rights advocates criticized the verdict, saying it underscored Beijing’s growing efforts to intimidate activists and stifle dissent.
“We of course hoped he would be acquitted of the charges, but we knew the chance was slim”, he said. He later become one of the best-known lawyers in China for defending human rights in courts as well as in the media.
“Clearly it is positive that Pu Zhiqiang is unlikely to spend another night in jail, yet that can not hide the gross injustice against him”, William Nee, a China researcher for the rights group, said in a statement.
The trial drew scorn from both human rights groups and foreign governments.
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In some of posts, Pu had called for reform in Beijing’s policies toward Xinjiang and Tibet and the religious and ethnic minorities in the regions, while others had criticized two government figures and a pro-government author.
