Discussing China rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang by using a film

A Beijing court has convicted a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer for online comments, giving him a suspended jail sentence.

Pu Zhiqiang was also convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” by the No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing.

The sentence came as good news to Pu’s supporters, who believe the case has been politically driven to punish the outspoken lawyer who has become a leading figure among China’s rights defense lawyers.

Pu has represented many well-known dissidents, including artist Ai Weiwei and activists of the “New Citizens’ Movement”, a group that has called on Chinese leaders to make their wealth public.

He also was instrumental in pushing for the eventual abolishment of China’s labour camp system, which allowed police to imprison people for up to four years without a trial.

Pu “may walk home today, but he’s not free”.

Gao Zhisheng is a human rights lawyer who has been detained in jail or placed under some form of house arrest for the past seven years.

Xinhua quoted the court as saying that between January 2012 and May 2014, Pu posted messages eight times on various Weibo accounts to “stir ethnic relations and incite ethnic hatred”.

During Pu’s trial last week, police roughhoused protesters who had gathered outside the courthouse in support of the lawyer.

The overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders’ (CHRD) network, which collates reports from rights groups operating inside China, hit out at the verdict against Pu, which comes amid a nationwide crackdown on rights lawyers.

According to Xinhua, the court ruled that those posts inflicted negative impact on society, given that Mr. Pu, as a professional lawyer and public figure, “wielded a certain degree of influence online”.

The way the ruling was constructed indicates that Pu will likely not be jailed, observers said.

In the comments for which he was tried, Pu said 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?”

The court sentenced him to three years in prison but also said the sentence would be suspended.

Among the online comments posted by Mr Pu – who participated in the Tiananmen protests as a student – was one criticising Beijing’s policies in the remote western region of Xinjiang, which has seen a wave of ethnic unrest in recent years. The guilty verdict means he can no longer practice law.

The lawyer regretted that Pu’s guilty verdict “can only be interpreted as a trend, in which, the [state’s] control over speech has worsened”. “So speaking for the common people is a crime?” yelled one tearful woman as she was roughly shoved into a police van by uniformed officers and plainclothed officials. He never pleaded guilty, nevertheless.

“This is still a case rife with injustice”, said William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International.