Rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has denied all of the prospective charges against him, according to his own lawyer Mo Shaoping. Pu was detained ahead of this year’s 25th anniversary of the 1989 June 4th crackdown, and formally arrested for causing disturbance and illegally obtaining personal information shortly after it passed. Last month, Mo reported that Pu might face further charges arising from weibo posts criticizing China’s harsh policies in Xinjiang. From the AP’s Didi Tang:
Mo Shaoping said he obtained a police document urging prosecutors to indict Pu on charges of inciting state subversion, fanning ethnic hatred, provoking trouble, and illegally obtaining personal information.
Mo said he shared the information with Pu at Beijing’s No. 1 Detention Center and that Pu denied all of the charges.
[…] It was not immediately clear when prosecutors would indict Pu, and Mo said they were planning to give police another month to provide additional materials.
Mo said Pu has received medicine for his health conditions while in detention, but also underwent grueling interrogation. [Source]
Mo had previously complained of being barred from meeting Pu and seeing materials related to his case. From Radio Free Asia on Monday:
“They are doing this deliberately,” Mo said. “They told us we had to wait until the lead prosecutor comes back from a business trip, but then they still dragged their feet and didn’t make an appointment for me to see [Pu].”
He said it has been three weeks since Pu’s case was transferred to the procuratorate, and yet he hasn’t been allowed to review the evidence against his client.
“There is no good reason for refusing a lawyer permission to review case files,” Mo said. [Source]
