Chinese Lawyer on Trial for Criticizing the State

Human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was accused of making seven posts on
Sina Weibo by the Chinese government. Photo: GlobalPanorama | FlickrCC.

China has placed human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang on trial for criticizing the government. Pu Zhiqiang is accused of making seven posts on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. He admits to making the posts, but has pled not guilty, and called on the government to prove that there was any harm done by the posts.

The trial comes during a time of increased repression of comments seen as “destructive” or which criticize the government or the state. Lawyers and their family members have been detained, new laws require political discussion to be positive, and party members are forbidden from criticizing Communist Party policy.

Over the summer, state media featured editorials calling human rights lawyers “venal and self-aggrandizing troublemakers out to destabilize China.” The Global Times, a party organ, warned recently that Western interference in Pu’s case would be considered an attack against the rule of law in China.

Pu has criticized China’s government for being one based on “secrecy, cheating, passing the buck (and) delay.” He also referred to the government as a conqueror or plunderer for its treatment of the predominantly Muslim western region of Xinjiang.

President Xi Jinping and the party are upset about this kind of talk, which they refer to as “anti-establishment.” Since Xi took office in 2012, he has pushed for more repression of freedom of expression in China, and has led the charge against human rights lawyers and other critics of the state.

It is unclear how long it will take for the court to come to a verdict and possible sentence for Pu. He has been in custody for 19 months, charged with provoking trouble and inciting ethnic hatred. He faces up to eight years in prison if found guilty, and of course that verdict would set a dangerous precedent for the treatment of other critics.