WASHINGTON D.C.—Chinese attorney Gao Zhisheng mysteriously disappeared in February and hasn’t been seen for more than 120 days. Chinese ambassador to the United States Zhou Wenzhong issued a letter to U.S. Senators denying that Chinese public security had anything to do with his recent disappearance. However, some overseas organizations believe Chinese authorities have kidnapped the famous human rights defender.
Gao Zhisheng is an attorney in Beijing who had taken many human rights related cases. He had repeatedly brought charges against local government authorities and sent letters to senior government officials to call for better treatment of Falun Gong practitioners and other groups. On December 21, 2006, the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to three years imprisonment, with five years probation, and one year deprivation of political rights for the crime of inciting government subversion. Following his incarceration, Gao was kept under house arrest and constantly monitored.
This February, police asked Gao to leave Beijing, so he returned to his hometown in Sha’anxi Province, when he disappeared shortly after. U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan and U.S. Representative Sander Levin, Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, sent a letter to the Chinese government to account for Gao’s disappearance. The core paragraph in the Ambassador’s reply, released by Senator Dorgan's office, states that, according to his inquiry, "Gao received a three-year sentence, with five-years probation, and one-year deprivation of political rights on December 26, 2006 for violation of the Criminal Law. He is currently serving probation. Public security has not taken any mandatory measure against him."
However Gao’s former assistant Wen Haibo said that he has been to Gao’s home but still couldn’t find him.
Wen believes Gao’s disappearance might be related to an article he had recently published criticizing Beijing police. Wen also points out that all the persecution and punishments Gao has endured are actually against international conventions and China’s own constitution.
Five days after the 43-year-old attorney was taken from his home in Shanxi Province, one article appeared online signed by Gao Zhisheng. In this article, Gao described the details of his kidnapping, as well as the electric shocks and other tortures he was subjected to, arousing the concern of the international community. Wen said, “All the persecution he referred to in the article is unimaginable and intolerable. The authorities could be even more infuriated because of this article, so he might be treated even more severely.”
Read original article in Chinese.
