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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The court determined Pu provoked ethnic discord and incited ethnic hatred via multiple entries he posted on his social media account on Weibo.com from 2012 to 2014.
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Shan Baojun, Pu’s counsel, says that “it’s quite a disappointment that the authorities still believe Pu is guilty after we fought in the court for innocence”, he adds, “but it’s good he’s out of the jail”.
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Activists and human rights groups say that Chinese President Xi Jinping has presided over the country’s most intense crackdown on dissent in decades, persecuting and intimidating Communist Party critics of all stripes, including journalists, human rights lawyers, religious figures, bloggers and feminist activists. Correspondents state the sentencing could mean that he’s tracked throughout the suspension period, together with the chance for a reduced sentence if he exhibits behavior that is great. He is to receive a suspended three-year sentence.
He has represented a diverse array of clients, including dissident artist Ai Weiwei and victims of a draconian (and now abolished) “re-education through labor” system.
“He didn’t commit any act, there were only words”, said Pu supporter Guan Jing near the court.
“Pu will not have to immediately go to prison, but he is still not a free man”, Mo Shaoping, Pu’s lawyer told AFP after the sentencing. Mr. Pu had faced up to eight years in prison.
On Dec. 14, almost 19 months after his detention, authorities tried Pu at the Beijing court, as plainclothes police shoved and harassed journalists, diplomats and supporters under hazy skies outside.
Observers said the case was the latest sign of the Chinese government’s twin campaigns to rein in civil society activism and to control China’s social media and internet, which have seen increasingly outspoken expression and criticism of policy over recent years.
William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said: “He is no criminal and this guilty verdict effectively shackles one of China’s bravest champions of human rights from practising law”.
In the posts stretching back to 2011, Pu criticised China’s assimilation policies in the restive province of Xinjiang, home to a large ethnic minority population of Uighurs. “He also said if there is an opportunity, history will deliver a true judgement”.
“Pu is not guilty”, Ai said by telephone. Nevertheless, though the sentence was suspended, he can no longer by law practice as a lawyer.
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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On Tuesday morning, police detained at least 12 activists outside Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court who had come to show their support for Pu Zhiqiang. But he accepted the verdict Tuesday and indicated he would not appeal, Xinhua said.
