Suspended jail term for China rights lawyer
BEIJING — Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was released from detention Tuesday after a Beijing court gave him a suspended prison sentence for posting comments on social media critical of the ruling Communist Party.
The court found Pu, 50, guilty of "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels" in seven widely circulated posts on Weibo — China's version of Twitter — but said the sentence will be suspended for three years.
He stood trial Dec. 14 after spending 19 months in detention. As part of the sentence he is banned from practicing law.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency said Pu was given a lenient sentence because he admitted writing the messages that criticized Beijing's polices in the restive western regions of Xinjiang, home to Muslim minority Uighurs. He also used humor to criticize politicians. The messages he posted amounted to 600 words.
Xinhua said the court believed Pu’s comments fanned ethnic hatred, and that his remarks on public figures disturbed the public order.
The ruling, activists said, was the latest chapter in a three-year-long crackdown on lawyers, civil rights groups and online expression in China. Since coming to power in early 2013, President Xi Jinping has sought to snuff out sources of dissent as he tries to strengthen the Communist Party's grip on power.
“We expected this verdict but we do not believe he is guilty,” Mo Shaoping, one of Pu's lawyers, said.
Pu, a survivor of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, was rounded up as part of the crackdown in May 2014. At the time of his arrest, authorities said they were investigating him for other crimes but no other charges emerged.
“Pu’s case has from the beginning had nothing to do with the law — it has been about silencing him,” said Sophie Richardson, China director for Human Rights Watch.
“While we are relieved he has gone home, that should not be confused with his being free, or the slightest respect for the law in China,”she added.
Pu's lawyer said his client may yet still be placed under house arrest and subject to other restrictions. He has 10 days to launch an appeal.
In the past, Pu defended the dissident artist Ai Weiwei and members of the New Citizens Movement, a group that has called on all Communist officials to disclose their personal wealth. He was also instrumental in helping shut down China’s system of labor camps two years ago. In those, suspects could he held for years without trial.
Outside the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday, where thick toxic smog also descended, police and plainclothes security officials cordoned off the area around the courthouse and prevented journalists and western diplomats from approaching. "There is no news here,” they repeatedly said.
Around a dozen Pu supporters were also outside the court.
They expressed relief he had not received a harsher sentence but also anger that he had been found guilty.
“It’s not fair,” said Yan Chunfang. She was then prevented from saying more by police. “If I don’t answer my phone tomorrow I have been disappeared she shouted,” as she was moved on.
Zhang Baocheng said the short sentence showed how little evidence the authorities had against Pu. “This verdict was all about saving face,” said Zhang.