According to RDN (
6 May 14;
7 May 14) and Xinhua (
6 May 14), on or around May 4, 2014, public security officials took lawyer Pu Zhiqiang into custody in Beijing municipality. On May 6, authorities criminally detained Pu at the Beijing No. 1 PSB Detention Center on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” On June 13, officials arrested Pu on charges of “illegally obtaining personal information of citizens” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (
CL, arts. 253, 293). Officials later added “inciting splittism” and “inciting ethnic hatred” (
CL arts. 103(2), 249) (RFA,
20 November 14; RDN,
10 December 14). In May 2015, officials indicted Pu on “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” (RDN,
20 May 15). The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court tried Pu on December 14 (NYT,
14 December 15) and on December 22 gave him a 3-year sentence, suspended for 3 years (NYT,
22 December 15). Officials based the charges against Pu on 7 Weibo posts that criticized government officials and China's ethnic policy (RFA,
8 December 15). On January 1, 2019, the Fengtai District Justice Bureau in Beijing announced Pu's release from community corrections and that he would continue to be subject to "placement and help" for 3 more years (CRLW,
1 January 19).