2015-05-19
Pu Zhiqiang (front right) attends a seminar about the Tiananmen crackdown in Beijing, May 3, 2014.
Photo courtesy of CHRD
Authorities in the Chinese capital have released Qu Zhenhong, niece and former defense attorney of jailed rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, on “bail,” her lawyers said.
Qu was initially held in May 2014 under criminal detention on suspicion of “illegally gathering citizens’ information,” after she agreed to represent Pu, who was indicted for “incitement to racial hatred” and “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” last week.
While Pu’s case now looks set to proceed to trial, Qu has been released on “bail,” defense attorney Mo Shaoping told RFA on Tuesday.
“From Qu Zhenhong’s point of view, she is currently only released on bail, but the case against her hasn’t been dropped,” Mo said.
“The prosecution service won’t stop investigating her during her bail period, and if they still think the charge against her will stand up, they could indict her and take it to court,” he said.
Fellow defense attorney Shang Baojun, who is also defending Pu, welcomed Qu’s release, however.
“However you look at it, we welcome Qu Zhenhong’s release on bail,” Shang said. “Especially from Pu Zhiqiang’s point of view, as she is his niece.”
“The fact that Qu Zhenhong is no longer in a horrible jail cell will be a great source of psychological comfort to him,” he said. “From that point of view, it will be good for Pu’s case.”
However, a congratulatory tweet sent by fellow rights lawyer Ge Yongxi was deleted from the Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo soon after it was posted on Monday.
Beijing-based lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said Qu has been released on a technicality, because the same charge had been dropped against Pu, with whom she was to have shared a trial.
“Now that the procuratorate isn’t charging Pu Zhiqiang with this crime, they won’t charge Qu Zhenhong either,” Liu said.
“I’m sure it’s because they don’t have any evidence, or not enough evidence … a serious lack of evidence that is insufficient to charge her with,” he added.
However, Qu’s release apparently doesn’t signal a more tolerant era for China’s embattled legal profession, particularly for those who help disadvantaged groups stand up for their rights in the face of
state power.
Qu’s release came as a lawyer representing the mother of Xu Chunhe, a 45-year-old man shot dead by police at a railway station in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, lay in hospital with a broken leg after being beaten by an unidentified “mob.”