Practicing attorney

Pu Zhiqiang is best known as a pioneering free-speech lawyer. The clients he has defended against defamation lawsuits have included literary critics sued by writers; periodicals sued by corporations and tycoons; and authors and activists sued by government officials. As a result of his efforts, he has been detained, interrogated, and had his representation of clients severely compromised.

Pu Zhiqiang, born in rural eastern China in 1965, is currently a partner at Beijing Huayi Law Firm. In 1986, he received his Bachelors in History from Nankai University; in 1991, he received an LL.M. from China University of Political Science and Law. He passed the bar in 1995. In the spring of 2005, Mr. Pu was a visiting scholar at Yale Law School, conducting comparative research on media and the law.

Although Mr. Pu practices in the areas of real estate, bankruptcy, anti-trust, finance, and criminal defense -- including defending fellow lawyer Zheng Enchong and Tibetan environmentalist Karma Samdrop -- he is best known as a pioneering free-speech lawyer. The clients he has defended against defamation lawsuits have included literary critics sued by writers; magazines and newspapers sued by corporations and business tycoons; and authors and activists sued by government officials.

Mr. Pu has come under scrutiny by Chinese authorities as a result of both his free-speech cases and his political beliefs. In 1989, Mr. Pu joined the pro-democracy movement; in 2008, he was one of the original signers of Charter 08, a manifesto calling for fundamental changes in China, including an independent legal system, freedom of association, and the elimination of one-party rule.

In June of 2006, Mr. Pu sent out a text message to friends asking them to join him to reflect on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre the following day. The police summoned him for a chat at 1 a.m., and then again at 10:20 a.m. He was detained and questioned the full day. Mr. Pu has been similarly summoned by police in response to the release of Charter 08 and the announcement of Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Pu has also had his ability to represent his clients compromised by government interference in the trial process. In 2009, Mr. Pu defended Tan Zuoren, an earthquake activist, against charges of defaming the Communist Party regarding the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations. In the early hours of Aug. 12, the defense witnesses were woken by police in their hotel rooms, beaten, and prevented from attending trial. Mr. Tan was found guilty and received a five year sentence.

Last updated Feb. 28, 2011

Pu Zhiqiang, “Where Officials Serve the Devil,” The Age, Dec. 10, 2010, available at http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/where-officials-serve-the-devil-20101209-18rc3.html.

Pu Zhiqiang, "'June Fourth' Seventeen Years Later: How I Kept a Promise," Aug. 10, 2006, The New York Review of Books, available at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/aug/10/june-fourth-seventeen-years-later-how-i-kept-a-pro/?page=1.