One of China's most celebrated human rights lawyers was handed a suspended three-year prison sentence on Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV said, after posting comments critical of the ruling Communist Party.

Pu Zhiqiang was sentenced by Beijing's No. 2 Intermediate People's Court for "inciting ethnic hatred" and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble".

He accepted the ruling and will not appeal, CCTV said.

The ruling was a three-year prison sentence that was deferred for three years, but observers said the way it was constructed means it is unlikely he will be jailed.

"Pu will not have to immediately go to prison, but he is still not a free man," Mo Shaoping, Pu's lawyer told AFP after the sentencing. "We are not satisfied with the verdict because we maintain Pu is innocent."

Pu, who has represented labour camp victims and dissident artist Ai Weiwei, was detained a year and a half ago in a nationwide crackdown on critics.

The case centred on seven posts Pu made on social media between 2011 and 2014.

At least three people were taken away by police outside the courthouse where the verdict was read, with one woman in tears as she screamed that Pu was innocent.

Police set up cordons 200 metres (650 feet) away from the court and officers were out in force, with both uniformed and those in civilian dress often clashing with activists and journalists that were there to cover the verdict.

For the next three years, Pu will be subject to monitoring by the police and needs permission to leave Beijing.

If he breaks the law or any conditions of his release he will be sent to prison. At the end of three years, if the police feel he has not violated any of those conditions, then his sentence will be commuted, according to the statute he was sentenced under.

Rights groups were swift to condemned the verdict.

"Clearly it is positive that Pu Zhiqiang is unlikely to spend another night in jail, yet that cannot hide the gross injustice against him," said William Nee, China Researcher at Amnesty International, in a statement.

"He is no criminal and this guilty verdict effectively shackles one of China's bravest champions of human rights from practising law"