Police officers push away foreign journalists covering rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang's trial in Beijing on Dec. 14.
Pu, 50, has been in custody for 19 months on charges of "picking quarrels," "provoking trouble" and "inciting ethnic hatred" in series of posts he made on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter.
"Lawyers and civil society leaders such as Mr. Pu should not be subject to continuing repression, but should be allowed to contribute to the building of a prosperous and stable China," Dan Biers, a deputy political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said before a group of unidentified men pushed him and a crowd of journalists away from the courthouse.
Lawyers, legal associates and family members have been detained, new laws require online political discussions to be more "positive," and just last month, party members were banned from criticizing party policy.
