Chinese rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang’s criticism of Communist Party used to indict him

Incriminating commentaries posted online by detained human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang have emerged, showing that his often sarcastic criticisms of the Communist Party and its policies towards ethnic minorities and neighbouring countries crossed the authorities' limits of tolerance.

Pu, who was put in criminal detention in May after he joined an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, has been charged with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", inciting separatism and ethnic hatred, and illegally obtaining personal information. He faces a lengthy jail term.

About 30 microblog messages sent by Pu from 12 Weibo accounts between 2011 and 2014 were used to indict him, his lawyer Shang Baojun said.

But Shang said the messages were not criminal in nature.

"[They were] his opinions on people or events - these should be within the domain of free speech. These have nothing to do with crimes," Shang said. "It is over the top to bring several charges against Pu based on his comments."

Shang said Pu had denied all the charges, which together carry a maximum jail term of 20 years.

In his commentaries, Pu had been highly critical of the party. "From top to bottom, the Communist Party cannot survive without telling lies," he said in one post.

He also poked fun at officials including Shen Jilan, an elderly legislator who claims never to have voted "no" in parliamentary sessions, and Mao Xinyu , the grandson of Mao Zedong and a major general in the People's Liberation Army.

"Apart from luck and bloodlines," Pu wrote, Shen and Mao held senior posts by "pretending to be a fool and being a real fool".

He also criticised China's ethnic policies in Xinjiang and Tibet .

He lambasted the hardline policies of former Xinjiang party chief Wang Lequan following the deadly knife attack at a Kunming railway station in March that was blamed on Uygur separatists. "I can believe that the terror was created by Xinjiang pro-independence [forces] - but this is the outcome, not the cause," Pu wrote. "Wang Lequan … you're most familiar with that place, tell me: Why? Who are they aiming at?"

He also criticised Beijing's governance of Tibet, saying the rules ordering Tibetan monasteries to hang Chinese leaders' portraits and prohibiting Muslim men from growing beards and women from wearing veils were "mad".

While criticising Japan's wartime atrocities in China, one of his posts said: "If China was ruled by Japan, it would have been 10,000 times better than now."

Human rights advocates say Pu's arrest is aimed at silencing him and is part of the wider crackdown on rights lawyers, activists and civil society.