By Christine Khamis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China –
One of the most prominent human rights lawyers in China, Pu Zhiqiang, will go on trial next week for his blog posts criticizing the Communist Party. Mr. Pu faces a potential sentence of eight years in prison for charges of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The Chinese government has brought the latter charge against many other government critics and rights advocates to support their detainment and imprisonment since President Xi Jinping became the leader of China’s Communist Party in late 2012.
Mr. Pu will go on trial before Beijing’s Number Two Intermediate Court on Monday. The court’s only evidence against him consists of seven among thousands of posts that Mr. Pu posted on a micro-blog service, according to one of his defense attorneys, Mo Shaoping. Mr. Mo believes that Mr. Pu is almost certainly going to be convicted and sentenced to imprisonment by the court, which is controlled by the Communist Party.
The prosecutors who brought charges against Mr. Pu have stated that his posts on the micro-blog were insulting to others and disrupted public order. His posts included statements questioning the Chinese government’s treatment of the Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group living in the province of Xinjiang, and critical remarks against the Communist Party. Mr. Mo has stated that Mr. Pu has admitted that his posts were rude and has offered to apologize for his remarks.
Police detained Mr. Pu last year after he attended a seminar marking the 25th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. He has remained in detention for over a year and has not been allowed to see his wife, who says that he has been interrogated extensively and has been tortured both physically and mentally.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have called for Chinese officials to release Mr. Pu, along with the United States. Max Baucus, the United States’ Ambassador to China, has urged the Chinese government to release Mr. Pu because he and other human rights lawyers should be seen as partners, rather than enemies of China’s government.
China’s government, led by President Xi Jinping, has increasingly cracked down on dissidents and human rights advocates, including several lawyers. According to China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, over 250 people have been questioned and detained and nearly 30 people have been prohibited from leaving China in the last several months.
For more information, please see:
Hong Kong Free Press – China to Put Top Human Rights Lawyer on Trial Next Week – 10 December 2015
The New York Times – Chinese Rights Lawyer’s Trial Over Online Comments to Begin Soon – 10 December 2015
Radio Free Asia – Charges Against Top Chinese Rights Lawyer Based on Seven Tweets – 8 December 2015
Voice of America – US: Detained China Lawyers ‘Partners, not Enemies” – 10 December 2015
