Pu Zhiqiang

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Pu Zhiqiang, 2013

Pu Zhiqiang ( Chinese  浦 志强 , Pinyin Pǔ Zhìqiáng ; born January 17, 1965 in the People's Republic of China ) is a Chinese lawyer who has specialized in areas such as human rights , freedom of the press and product safety. After his conviction in December 2015, he is no longer allowed to practice as a lawyer.

Life

Pu received a bachelor's degree in history from Nankai University in Tianjin , northeast China. Graduated as a Master in Law LLM he made in 1991 at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing . In 1989, he took part in the student demonstrations that led to the Tian'anmen massacre . He lives and works in Beijing and is a partner in the Beijing Huayi law firm .

Work as a lawyer

Pu is a prominent member of the Weiquan Movement of Chinese Lawyers and has acted as the representative of writers and journalists in a number of well-known dissident cases. These activities led to his being criticized by the authorities and to having been arrested and interrogated several times.

In 2004, Pu’s reported cases include writers Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao , who were charged with defamation. They had portrayed a local Communist Party representative in their bestseller A Survey of the Chinese Peasants . According to Philip Pan of the Washington Post, "the trial conduct and cross-examination of the functionary by Pooh were so skillful that Pooh and the party as a whole ended up being the defendants." In the same year he won another defamation case against China Reform Magazine , which had reported critically on a property developer.

In 2006, he represented the dissident and author Wang Tiancheng , who sued law professor Zhou Yezhong , who is said to have used 5000 words from Wang's work without citation. The court acknowledged that this was plagiarism, but the scope of this was insignificant in relation to the overall work. Pu suspected in the South China Morning Post that the failure to convict was for political reasons.

Political blogger and dissident Feng Hong was also defended by Pu in 2012. However, Feng was sentenced to one year in a labor camp for writing a ridiculous poem about the then-ousted Communist Party leader in Chongqing Bo Xilai . After Bo's fall, Fang Hong asked for his sentence to be overturned and for compensation to be given.

Arrest and trial

In May 2014, Pu Zhiqiang was arrested on charges of causing a disturbance. This "was seen as a warning to the other human rights lawyers in China not to go too far in their engagement". In July 2014, various activists demonstrated in Hong Kong against the imprisonment of Pu and four other lawyers who had taken part with Pu in a demonstration in May 2014 in recognition of the Tian'anmen massacre by the central government of China. Pooh are accused of seven sarcastic short messages on the Weibo short message service . On December 14, 2015, the trial of Pu was opened in Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court . In front of the building, which was shielded by security forces, clashes broke out between Chinese supporters of Pu and representatives of foreign media as well as foreign diplomats who wanted to participate in the proceedings as observers or who wanted to give explanations about the treatment of Pu. The authorities declared the expulsion of the press and diplomats with an overcrowding of the courtroom. Pu's attorney pleaded "innocent" on behalf of his client on charges of "inciting ethnic hatred" and "inciting dispute". The prosecution did not accept some of the evidence presented and the allegations were based solely on the series of short messages. Pu’s attorney stated after the end of the hearing, which lasted from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, that Pu had not commented on the charges, but stated that he regretted the way the remarks were made and that he would be more reluctant to express himself in the future. The English-language Chinese newspaper Global Times condemned the appearance of the Western diplomats the day after the trial as an inadmissible attempt to influence the Chinese judiciary in order to insist on the innocence of the accused, and stressed that the court would render its verdict in accordance with the law. The court sentenced Pu on December 22, 2015 to a three-year suspended sentence. The court found him guilty of microblogging instigating ethnic violence, which had serious social consequences. Despite admonitions, he had not changed his posts, which showed his intention to create ethnically based unrest, it was declared. He is no longer allowed to practice as a lawyer, as he has been convicted by a court of law. He has to report to the police regularly and is no longer allowed to speak to journalists. Pooh was released from custody immediately after the sentencing was announced. Journalists and diplomats were not admitted to the publicly declared verdict on the grounds that the courtroom was full.

Pu’s attorney Mo Shaoping suggested that the trial would provide guidelines on what the Chinese are allowed to say on the Internet and that the trial was a fundamental dispute over freedom of expression and speech. After the verdict was announced, he reiterated this opinion and stated that he did not agree with the verdict and demanded an acquittal for his client.

With the end of ten days of surveillance following the verdict, his attorney Mo Shaoping stated that Pu did not intend to appeal the verdict to a higher court because, under the circumstances, he saw very little chance of changing the verdict.

In April 2016, following his final conviction, the Chinese judicial authorities revoked Pu's license to practice law.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy/articles/A30146-2004Dc27.html
  2. ↑ Hunt for China's lawyers in FAZ from December 17, 2014, page 5.
  3. ↑ Tom Phillips Scuffles outside Beijing court as human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang goes on trial , in: The Guardian , December 14, 2015, accessed December 14, 2015
  4. ↑ a b Rights lawyer's trial tests court's autonomy in: Global Times, December 15, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015
  5. ^ Pu Zhiqiang gets suspended three-year sentence. china.org.cn, December 22, 2015, accessed on December 22, 2015 (English): “The court, after hearing out the defense and opinions from the prosecutor, determined Pu provoked ethnic discord and incited ethnic hatred via multiple entries he posted on his social media accounts on Weibo.com from Jan. 2012 to May 2014. His posts, shared over 2,500 times and generating more than 1,300 comments, stirred ethnic hatred among Internet users, triggering an antagonistic mentality in many and creating a severe social impact . Pu continued posting provocative content despite repeated warnings from web administrators, which demonstrated his clear intent to stir ethnic hatred, the court said. "
  6. ↑ a b c surveillance instead of detention. Tagesschau online, December 22, 2015, accessed on December 22, 2015 .
  7. ↑ China: Civil rights attorney Pu Zhiqiang receives suspended sentence at Spiegel Online , December 22, 2015 (accessed December 22, 2015).
  8. ↑ Tom Phillips US politicians attack 'nightmare' of Xi Jinping's China in: The Guardian, December 15, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015.
  9. ↑ Bai Tiantian, Qian Chengya, Civil right lawyer drops appeal plans in: Global Times , January 4, 2016, p. 3
  10. ↑ Kou Jie, Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang barred from legal practice following conviction , in: Global Times, April 15, 2016, p. 3
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Pu is the family name here, Zhiqiang is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Pu, Zhiqiang
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 浦 志强 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION chinese lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH People's Republic of China