China puts human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang on trial for tweets

Chinese authorities tried one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers behind closed doors on Monday morning, as police roughed up protesters, journalists and diplomats who gathered outside of a Beijing courthouse hoping to observe the proceedings.

He was indicted in May on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” stemming from seven Sina Weibo posts he wrote critical of the ruling Communist Party and its policies toward the Uighur minority group in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Pu Zhiqiang is on trial for comments he is alleged to have made on social media criticising the Chinese government. They said it would not be decided by “pressure from the West”.

The case has attracted so much attention because of Pu’s professional stature – his work has been praised by state-run magazines – and the fact he faces a near-certain conviction on what many consider a problematic, catch-all charge.

 His lawyers told reporters that during the trial Mr. Pu said he had written the blogs, apologised if they had caused any harm, and thanked his detention centre for treating him well. Dan Biers, an official at the USA embassy in Beijing, was jostled down the street by police as he tried to read out a statement denouncing the lawyer’s treatment.

The trial of Pu and the brazen police action against protesters and journalists covering the event is the Chinese Communist Party’s latest move in an ongoing suppression of rights lawyers and activists in China.

American Ambassador to China Max Baucus last week released a statement that specifically called for Pu’s release.

In noisy scuffles, police and plainclothes security officers wearing yellow smiley-face stickers pushed journalists and protesters away from the court entrance area.

The group stated that they “condemn the harassment of and violence against overseas media and their local staff by Chinese authorities in an apparent effort to block reporting of the trial of lawyer Pu Zhiqiang in Beijing today…” Videos uploaded online showed uniformed and plain-clothes officers pushing him and foreign reporters while shouting “Leave!” in Chinese. Liu Xiaobo, the dissident, was also sentenced on December 25.

Dozens of Pu Zhiqiang’s supporters travelled from across the country, some for thousands of kilometres, to protest outside the courtroom in Beijing.

He reportedly did not offer a plea and it remains unclear when the court will issue a verdict.

(AP Photo/Andy Wong). A policeman, center, urges foreign diplomats to leave the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court where rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang stood trial, in Beijing, Monday, Dec. 14, 2015.

The charges are mostly based on seven social media posts, in total about 600 characters, in which he criticises the government and satirises two cadres.

Mr Pu’s lawyer quoted him as saying in court that he was prepared to apologise to anyone offended. In another message, Pu mocks Mao Xinyu, Mao Zedong’s grandson. A verdict is expected later on Monday. “If Pu Zhiqiang is guilty, then we are all guilty”.