Police have scuffled with protesters at a Beijing courthouse as prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang stood trial on charges of provoking trouble and stirring ethnic hatred.

A veteran Chinese journalist was jailed for seven years for leaking a document detailing the Communist Party’s resolve to target civil press freedom as a threat to its monopoly on power.

The Chinese prison where Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo is held has suspended visits by his family members and his wife remains under house arrest, a week after the award ceremony, a human rights group said today.

The brother-in-law of a Chinese dissident who has called for sweeping political reforms and an end to Communist Party dominance said a verdict would be handed down on Friday.