Detained Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang gets pre-trial meeting date
A pre-trial meeting for the case of detained rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has been scheduled for Tuesday, one of his lawyers said on Sunday.
Shang Baojun said the meeting at the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court would be attended by judges, prosecution authorities and defence lawyers to discuss procedural issues, but he did not know when the trial would be. Pre-trial meetings can take place anytime from days to months before the actual trial, lawyers say.
Shang said he had planned to meet Pu Monday but was unsure whether Pu would be at Tuesday's meeting. He declined to discuss issues he planned to bring up in the meeting.
READ MORE: Sarcasm and ‘abusive language’: the remarks that led China to rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang’s arrest
Pu, detained for a year and a half without trial, was denied bail in September. His case has been postponed twice, mostly recently in mid-November, raising questions about why he has been held for so long. He is suffering various chronic illnesses including diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
Pu, charged with “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, faces up to eight years in jail, his lawyers have said.
READ MORE: ‘In the case of human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, China must ensure justice is fair and swift’
Pu’s alleged crimes were said by the prosecution authorities to be “serious” because he posted messages on his microblog to “incite ethnic hatred” and “openly insult others” and his acts “damaged social order”.
Pu’s indictment showed he was incriminated for his scathing remarks on the government’s handling of an ethnic conflict in southwestern China last year and his sarcasm towards two officials.
Pu was detained by the police in May last year, initially on the charge of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, after attending an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
The police later added three more charges, accusing him of “inciting ethnic hatred”, “inciting separatism” and “illegally obtaining personal information”. In May this year, the Beijing People’s Procuratorate’s second branch dropped the latter two charges.
