22/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU speaks out against sentencing of Chinese lawyer Pu Zhiqiang. On Tuesday 22 December, the spokesperson to the EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, denounced the three-year suspended sentence handed down to the Chinese human rights lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, the author of micro-blogs criticising the authorities. He faced up to 8 years' imprisonment. “The EU calls for (his) immediate and unconditional release as well as for full rehabilitation and reinstatement of his rights”, she added. According to Mogherini's spokesperson, the sentence “appears inconsistent with China's own constitutional guarantees of freedom of assembly, opinion and expression as well as with its international human rights obligations”. “The verdict also sets a dangerous legal precedent regarding freedom of expression online and off-line”, she added, going on to stress that foreign journalists and diplomats should not have been prevented from observing the trial of Pu Zhiqiang. (CG)