However, Chinese media had previously quoted his lawyer as saying he denied the charges – though his lawyer also said Pu had apologized during his trial for any offense caused.
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A Beijing court Tuesday found prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang guilty of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” but gave him a suspended three-year jail term, meaning he could be released in ten days if he decides not to appeal.
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Mo said Pu was allowed to be with his wife but declined to disclose Pu’s exact location.
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“China’s judicial authorities have been dealing with these cases according to law and the person involved accepted the verdict of the court”, Hong Lei, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a regular briefing.
It remains unclear if Pu would be freed from detention immediately.
Rights groups were swift to condemned the verdict.
The guilty verdict disqualifies Pu from practicing law, and he must comply with certain restrictions and not commit crimes during the three-year period or risk being jailed.
But Mr Mo, the defence attorney, said that Pu, while conceding he had made mistakes, had not admitted guilt.
Last week’s trial attracted a mob of Pu’s supporters which clashed with police. His lawyers said he could have faced eight years in prison.
In the online comments targeted by the court, Mr Pu had said that China did not need Communist rule, writing: “Other than secrecy, cheating, passing the buck, delay, the hammer and sickle, what kinds of secrets of governance does this party have?”
After he posted several messages on microblogging program Weibo critical of the authorities, Mr Pu continues to be in detention since May 2014.
He was detained in May 2014 after attending a gathering to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident, and was arrested the following month.
The case is widely seen by Pu’s supporters as politically motivated in order to go after the vocal lawyer who is seen as a prominent figure among Chinese human rights defenders.
He’d challenged the “excessively violent” crack down on Uighurs in the restive Xinjiang area.
Among them, Beijing-based rights activist Zhang Baocheng said global and domestic pressure contributed to the suspended sentence instead of a full-fledged prison term.
“I went over there today with a few friends, and as I got off the bus at the traffic light near the intersection by the No. 2 Intermediate Court at about 9 a.m., about four or five police were grabbing four or five foreign journalists and pushing and shoving them away”, she said.
Jiang Jiawen, who came from the northern city of Dandong to support Pu and had been present at his trial a week earlier, expressed concern over the tight security presence.
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The official Xinhua News Agency said the court believed Pu had “stirred ethnic hatred among internet users, triggering an antagonistic mentality in many and creating a severe social impact”.
