Lawyer gets suspended 3-year sentence

Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was handed a suspended three-year prison sentence by a Beijing court on Tuesday for inciting ethnic hatred and disturbing public order through social media.

Pu was given a lighter punishment after the public trial because he confessed his crime honestly, pleaded guilty and expressed remorse. Pu accepted the verdict and said he will not appeal.

The court, after hearing out the defense and prosecutor, found that Pu provoked ethnic discord and incited ethnic hatred through multiple social media posts from January 2012 to May 2014.