Chinese Police Block Envoys at Lawyer’s Trial

Police scuffled with protesters and journalists at a Beijing courthouse as prominent rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang stood trial on charges of provoking trouble and stirring ethnic hatred with commentaries posted online that were critical of the Communist Party.

The posts at the centre of the case include messages questioning a state media account of a deadly knife attack blamed on people from the mainly Muslim region of Xinjiang, and another message accusing Communist Party officials of “lying”.

“The trial of Pu is extremely sensitive”.

A human-rights lawyer who defended Chinese dissidents is awaiting a verdict in Beijing after a three-hour trial marked by police tussles with journalists and diplomats outside the courthouse.

“The worldwide society should look out for Pu Zhiqiang, who spoke out for what is right”.

China has charged many rights activists with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, saying it is a country with rule of law and dismissing any global criticism on its rights record.

 There are widespread concerns that China’s crackdown on freedom of expression has intensified since Xi Jinping became president in 2013.

Inside the the court, the prosecution was basing its case on seven tweets made by Pu to the Twitter-like Sina Weibo social media platform, his lawyer Mo Shaoping told RFA.

“This is a government that has had not the slightest hesitation in the last two years about detaining, disappearing, torturing, and/or prosecuting people who have done nothing wrong”, said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch.

Police clashed with foreign journalists and protesters, who were banned from entering.

As a lawyer, Pu was known for assiduously keeping his activism within the boundaries of Chinese law.

At least one journalist also was slammed to the group during the scuffles, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China reported. The Sydney Morning Herald’s correspondent, Philip Wen, said he had been pushed to the ground.

Pu Zhiqiang didn’t plead guilty during the proceedings Monday, which came more than 19 months after he attended a meeting about commemorating the Tiananmen Square protests and was detained, according to one of his lawyers, Shang Baojun. “He said that if these microblog posts had caused injury to other people, he apologizes for it. He had no intention to incite ethnic hatred or pick quarrels and provoke trouble”, his lawyer, Mo, said.

American diplomat Dan Biers was pushed away while making a statement near the courthouse.

A diplomat speaking on behalf of the European Union was also shouted down as she delivered a statement outside the court criticising the process. International media and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned the trial as politically motivated.

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

The 50-year-old was arrested 18 months ago.

Pu Zhiqiang was arrested for posting – what appeared to the government as incendiary comments – on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo.

A former colleague of Pu told the Post that his popularity has led to him being perceived as a threat amid pressure on lawyers and rights advocates.