Sky News has filmed police in China forcibly clearing the streets of witnesses as one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers goes on trial in Beijing.
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Mr Pu’s lawyers say the case centred on messages he posted on a social media platform. He was in court for barely three hours, no members of the public were permitted to watch and no verdict was announced.
“(Pu) admitted the seven microblogs were written by him, there was no issue with it, this is a fact”, Pu’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told the Reuters news agency.
The main accusations against Pu revolve around seven microblog posts on his online accounts, his lawyers say.
Mr Mo said the court did not ask Pu specifically whether he was pleading guilty.
Instances of milder police action were caught on camera, including shoving a Chinese man to the ground as he called out for freedom of speech and democracy.
“Scores” of both plainclothed and uniformed police officers, along with security personnel, forcibly removed all gathered outside of the courthouse.
Several supporters recounted harrowing tales of illegal detentions, police torture and justice denied.
The FCCC has already condemned the treatment of journalists at the scene by Chinese authorities, reporting that, “at least one foreign journalist was slammed to the ground by a security officer”, and calling it a “gross violation of Chinese government rules governing foreign correspondents”.
A diplomat from the European Union mission was also shoved and shouted down as he delivered a statement criticising the process. “Innocent!” before being broken up by police who said they had obstructed the pavement.
“Legal coverage is a normal part of journalistic work and is expected grow as China pushes to develop its rule of law”, it said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism, saying foreign countries needed to “respect China’s judicial sovereignty” and that law enforcement officials had acted “in accordance with the law”.
Policemen try to stop a foreign video journalist covering rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang’s trial near the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing, Monday, Dec. 14, 2015. Behind the fence, wood was strewn on the sidewalk, in an apparent attempt to make it seem as if construction was ongoing.
Online authorities were busy as well censoring postings about the trial. Pu is nearly certain to be found guilty – more than 99.9 percent of defendants in criminal cases were found guilty by Chinese courts in 2013, according to official figures.
Pu went on trial Monday on charges of provoking tro…
The 50-year-old is the latest person to be tried in a crackdown on critics of the Communist Party overseen by President Xi Jinping, which has seen hundreds detained and dozens sent to prison.
“Today I came to show my support and to see if the law really exists in China, if China has human rights”, Ye Lina, a supporter of Pu’s, told The WorldPost.
We saw one woman being dragged away by the throat.
“Pu speaks for grassroots people in China. He should never be convicted”, said Zhang Jie, a petitioner from Jilin province.
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Dan Biers, deputy political counselor of the US embassy in Beijing, was prevented from reading a statement outside of the courthouse. He called for Pu’s release and criticized the “vague” charges that are being used in the trial.
