China formally disbars prominent Chinese rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang
Though given a suspended sentence for ‘inciting racial hatred’, Beijing legal authorities say he broke the law, and must be struck off
Chinese legal authorities on Thursday struck off a prominent rights lawyer who was handed a suspended sentence last year for writing internet posts the government said incited ethnic hatred, ending his career.
Activists have said the three-year suspended sentence for Pu Zhiqiang would serve as a strong reminder to other rights lawyers that the Communist Party, currently engaged in a severe clampdown on dissent, would brook no challenge to its rule.
Pu has represented many well-known dissidents, including artist Ai Weiwei and activists of the New Citizens’ Movement, a group that has called on Chinese leaders to publicly disclose their wealth, and his case has attracted wide concern in the West.
Unless one day his conviction is overturned, then he’ll never be allowed to practice law again. It’s really the end of his career
Pu said he had received the formal notification from the Beijing City Judicial Bureau that his lawyer’s licence had been revoked. He declined further comment, saying he was not supposed to accept interviews.
Calls to the judicial bureau seeking comment went unanswered.