Chinese human rights lawyer gets suspended sentence

A court convicted one of China’s most prominent rights lawyers on Tuesday of “inciting ethnic hatred” with posts criticising the government, handing down a suspended sentence that means he avoids jail but will not practise law again.

Supporters were relieved that the suspended sentence likely means the human rights lawyer will remain free from spending time in prison, but expressed outrage over the guilty verdict and a sentence that effectively silences him for the near future.

The case centred on seven posts Pu made on social media between 2011 and 2014.

The verdict also stirred mixed feelings from Pu’s supporters, who celebrated his release but also said it was an injustice to find him guilty.

The verdict is the latest in a widening crackdown on civil society under President Xi Jinping, with more than 200 lawyers and activists detained or called in for questioning since the summer.

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”.

He also condemned government policy in the mainly Muslim far-western region of Xinjiang as “absurd”.

ABC News Australia writes that Pu will be monitored by the police for the next three years, and would need authorization to go outside Beijing.

He had already spent almost 19 months in detention before his trial last week, which lasted just over three hours.

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.

“He said that he needs to rest after the disaster that was 20-something months behind bars, and that he still hopes to work towards the rule of law in China”, Mo said.

The US said it was concerned about the suspended sentence.

Police standing outside the courtroom as Pu gets sentenced.

On Tuesday, hundreds of police blocked foreign journalists from approaching the court.

Shan Baojun, Pu’s counsel, says that “it’s quite a disappointment that the authorities still believe Pu is guilty after we fought in the court for innocence”, he adds, “but it’s good he’s out of the jail”.

Xinhua said Pu admitted to the crimes and repented in court, but his lawyers said Pu only apologized for being impolite but insisted that he broke no law.

The statement also said that at least 12 activists supporting Pu had been detained outside the court during Tuesday’s trial, reminding that supporters, foreign journalists and diplomats had been “manhandled” by police and unidentified persons during Pu’s December 14 trial.

Pu has been particularly critical of a re-education program that allows authorities to detain citizens and require forced labor for up to four years without trial.