Pu Zhiqiang
Prominent Chinese rights lawyer says he is formally disbarred
Pu Zhiqiang is one of the earliest and most well-known human rights lawyers in China. He participated in the Tiananmen protests in 1989 and has taken on a number of freedom of speech cases. The human rights defender has also defended the dissident artist Ai Weiwei, victims of China’s labour camp system, and Communist Party members seeking redress for torture they endured during extralegal corruption investigations.
Chinese HRDs face intimidation, harassment, house arrest, abductions, torture and imprisonment. They also work under very restrictive legislation, including laws which criminalize all unauthorized demonstrations and require government sponsorship for NGO registration, which is refused to any organisation touching on human rights issues. Widescale investigations into NGOs with links to overseas organisations took place in 2014 and 2015 resulting in harassment, detentions and forced closures.
