The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post has more detail on Mr. Pu’s trial and the reaction of protesters, human rights campaigners and experts on Chinese law around the world.
Advertisement
Security agents forcibly kept dozens of people away from the Beijing court where rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang stood trial Monday, and authorities roughed up at least five protesters before taking them away in… Many were said to have been arrested by police officers who had gathered in force.
A human-rights lawyer who defended Chinese dissidents is awaiting a verdict in Beijing after a three-hour trial marked by police tussles with journalists and diplomats outside the courthouse. It is not yet clear when a verdict will be announced.
Supporter Bao Renpu condemned the strong-arm security tactics.
This July, the Chinese government initiated a sweeping crackdown on human rights lawyers, with hundreds detained for questioning and several dozen still under detention and accused as members of a “major criminal gang”.
“On the outside, the government talks about human rights and democracy, but on the inside, it simply doesn’t exist”.
Once the trial started, a U.S. Embassy official began to read a statement about 300 meters (yards) from the court entrance. Diplomats from 11 countries were said to have been “pushed” and “shoved” after congregating to witness the trail against Pu Zhiqiang on “vague” charges resulting from seven “sarcastic” tweets, and his attendance at a 2014 ceremony commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, which Pu reportedly also attended as a student.
A diplomat from the European Union mission was also shoved and shouted down as he delivered a statement criticising the process. Should he be found guilty, as observers expect, he will automatically be disbarred as a lawyer, colleagues say.
The New York Times calls the trial of Pu Zhiqiang “the latest attempt by the Communist Party to silence political dissent and rein in activist lawyers who question official policies and actions”.
In one post, Pu suggests the attack on Kunming train station that left 33 dead including four Uighur assailants last March was a symptom of repressive Beijing policies in Xinjiang. “No matter whether your aggression is a preemptive measure or a responsive measure, it’s all aggression”.
“He said he was prepared to admit to causing harm to others, and offered to make a formal apology… but he refused to plead guilty”, he said.
Analysts say he is virtually certain to be convicted in the party-controlled court.
A former client of his, Xie Sunming, told AFP: “Sure, they won’t let us into the courtroom, but that’s not what’s important”. “I am a man of the law”, he said.
The 50-year-old was arrested 18 months ago. A US embassy spokesperson expressed “great concern” over the incident.
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”.
Advertisement
BEIJING (AP) – Police scuffled with protesters and journalists at a Beijing courthouse Monday as a prominent rights lawyer stood trial on charges of provoking trouble and stirring ethnic hatred with online commentary critical of the ruling Communist Party.
