STRASBOURG, France—After authorities in China unprecedentedly confirmed—then denied—that prominent Christian human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng had disappeared after years of imprisonment, torture, and house arrest, Edward McMillan-Scott, a senior Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and one of Gao’s key supporters in Europe, called on the Beijing regime to produce Gao and to allow him to join his family in the United States.
Edward McMillan-Scott, the European Parliament’s vice president for human rights and democracy, who in the past has communicated with Gao personally, called on the Beijing regime to produce Gao and to allow him to join his family in the United States. “The European Parliament will not give up on reform in China—the world’s biggest country, now the second largest economy, and also the world’s biggest tyranny. China should follow Gao Zhisheng and Liu Xiaobo on a quick path to reform—becoming the largest country in an Asian common market. Without reform there will be chaos,” he said.
McMillan-Scott made the statements during an emergency debate in the European Parliament January 21 and also in a press statement released on the same day. The emergency debate focused on China’s human rights crackdown over Christmas during which Chinese dissident and author of the Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo, was imprisoned for eleven years.
Following the debate a resolution on human rights violations in China was adopted overwhelmingly by MEPs from the 27-nation European Union.
McMillan-Scott said that after his last visit to Beijing in May 2006, all the Chinese with whom he had contact were arrested and imprisoned. Among them were Hu Jia, a leading environmentalist who won the European Parliament’s 2008 Sakharov Prize for freedom of expression, and his friend and mentor, Gao Zhisheng—a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2008.
Gao became prominent after his 2005 publication of three letters denouncing the Chinese regime as well as his investigation into the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Gao has often been called “the Conscience of China.”
In August 2006 Gao was arrested, imprisoned for “subversion” and released into house arrest. Gao published an account of the severe torture he experienced while in prison, drawing international attention to his case.
Chinese authorities abducted Gao in February last year after his wife and two children made a daring escape to the U.S. Recently Gao’s brother reported that one of the policemen guarding Gao had said that the self-taught lawyer had “disappeared” in September. However, the Sydney Morning Herald subsequently reported that a source in the Chinese regime’s security apparatus said, “Gao is still alive at present … he’s not missing.'' The source did not indicate Gao’s condition or his whereabouts.
McMillan-Scott, David Kilgour, former secretary of state (Asia-Pacific) for Canada, and international human rights lawyer David Matas are just some of the international statesmen who have campaigned heavily on lawyer Gao’s behalf.
Edward McMillan-Scott, the European Parliament’s vice president for human rights and democracy, who in the past has communicated with Gao personally, called on the Beijing regime to produce Gao and to allow him to join his family in the United States. “The European Parliament will not give up on reform in China—the world’s biggest country, now the second largest economy, and also the world’s biggest tyranny. China should follow Gao Zhisheng and Liu Xiaobo on a quick path to reform—becoming the largest country in an Asian common market. Without reform there will be chaos,” he said.
McMillan-Scott made the statements during an emergency debate in the European Parliament January 21 and also in a press statement released on the same day. The emergency debate focused on China’s human rights crackdown over Christmas during which Chinese dissident and author of the Charter 08, Liu Xiaobo, was imprisoned for eleven years.
Following the debate a resolution on human rights violations in China was adopted overwhelmingly by MEPs from the 27-nation European Union.
McMillan-Scott said that after his last visit to Beijing in May 2006, all the Chinese with whom he had contact were arrested and imprisoned. Among them were Hu Jia, a leading environmentalist who won the European Parliament’s 2008 Sakharov Prize for freedom of expression, and his friend and mentor, Gao Zhisheng—a Nobel Peace Prize nominee in 2008.
Gao became prominent after his 2005 publication of three letters denouncing the Chinese regime as well as his investigation into the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Gao has often been called “the Conscience of China.”
In August 2006 Gao was arrested, imprisoned for “subversion” and released into house arrest. Gao published an account of the severe torture he experienced while in prison, drawing international attention to his case.
Chinese authorities abducted Gao in February last year after his wife and two children made a daring escape to the U.S. Recently Gao’s brother reported that one of the policemen guarding Gao had said that the self-taught lawyer had “disappeared” in September. However, the Sydney Morning Herald subsequently reported that a source in the Chinese regime’s security apparatus said, “Gao is still alive at present … he’s not missing.'' The source did not indicate Gao’s condition or his whereabouts.
McMillan-Scott, David Kilgour, former secretary of state (Asia-Pacific) for Canada, and international human rights lawyer David Matas are just some of the international statesmen who have campaigned heavily on lawyer Gao’s behalf.
