Gao Zhisheng
Encyclopedia
Gao Zhisheng is a Chinese human rights attorney and dissident
known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting alleged human rights abuses in China
. Because of his work, Zhisheng has been disbarred and detained by the Chinese government
several times and released. His commitment to defending his clients is influenced by his Christian beliefs
and their tenets on morality and compassion.
Zhisheng's memoir, A China More Just (2007), documents his "fight as a rights lawyer in the world's largest communist state." In the book, he accuses the ruling Communist Party of China
of state-sponsored torture
and reports having been tortured by the Chinese secret police. He disappeared
in April 2010 and has not been seen or heard from since.
With his family not being able to afford elementary school, Gao said he sat listening outside the classroom window. Later, an uncle helped him attend secondary school, after which he qualified to join the People's Liberation Army
. His unit was stationed at a base in Kashgar, in Xinjiang region, and he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Later, he left the PLA and began working as a food vendor. In 1991, inspired by a newspaper article that mentioned a plan by Deng Xiaoping
, then China's paramount leader, to train 150,000 new lawyers and develop the Chinese legal system
, he took a course in Law. Gao credited his excellent memory of titles and clauses for passing all his exams; he passed the bar in 1995.
intravenously; Gao won $100,000 in damages for a boy who had lost his hearing in another malpractice
case. He acted on behalf of a private businessman who had taken control of and redressed a troubled state-owned company when the district government used force to reclaim it after it became profitable. The case went to the Supreme Court, with a verdict in favour of the businessman. However, according to Gao, he has been a victim of reprisals from Xinjiang leaders, who warned clients and court officials to shun him.
. However, Gao cites an internal document drafted by the central government he had read that instructed all district courts to reject cases involving such land disputes, which he said was "blatantly illegal", but which "every court in Beijing blindly obeyed." Other cases include:
He was named one of the 10 Best Lawyers in China, by the Ministry of Justice in 2001, for his work in defending victims of medical malpractice and fighting for just compensation for dispossessed landowners. Following the Beijing land compensation case, he entered what was to become a protracted battle over several hundred acres of farmland that Guangdong Province had seized to construct a university. Although Gao met with many legal impediments, he took his campaign to the people. He publicly accused Guangdong officials of their "brazen murderous schemes", which stoked public anger and helped his clients obtain more generous compensation. In the summer of 2005, Gao defended fellow lawyer-activist Zhu Jiuhu, who was accused of "disturbing public order" while representing private investors in oil wells that were seized by the government in Shaanxi. He secured Zhu's release several months later through an intensive publicity campaign, although Zhu was barred from practicing law. Gao has also taken cases on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners. The Beijing Judicial Bureau has prohibited him from acting in certain cases and clients, including Falun Gong, the Shaanxi oil case and a recent incident of political unrest in Taishi village in Guangdong
. He refused to drop any of them, arguing that the bureau had no legal authority to dictate what cases he accepts or rejects.
In 2005, he resigned from the Communist Party. On 18 October, The Epoch Times published a letter Gao wrote to Hu Jintao
and Wen Jiabao
urging them to end the persecution of Falun Gong
practitioners, detailing a wide range of abuses they suffer in custody, including torture and executions. Shortly after sending the letter, he received a visit from State Security
agents. Gao's family was put under 24-hour police surveillance autumn 2005. On 4 November, shortly after being warned to retract a second open letter he had written about his Falun Gong cases, Gao received a new summons from the judicial bureau accusing him of a "serious violation of the Law on Managing the Registration of Law Firms" for failing to promptly register new business address following a move. He was ordered to suspend operations for a year. On appeal in late November, the bureau demanded that Gao hand over his personal law license as well as his firm's operating permit by 14 December, threatening use of force if he failed to comply; at that time, Gao had eluded being tailed by Security, and went to north-east China to take statements from Falun Gong practitioners who alleged torture in the hands of security forces.
alleged on 17 January 2006 that Gao narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, planned as a traffic accident ordered by Chinese secret police. On 4 February 2006, Gao, together with Hu Jia
and other activists, launched a “Relay Hunger Strike for Human Rights,” whereby different activists and citizens fasted for 24 hours in rotation. The hunger strike
was joined by people in 29 provinces, as well as overseas, though several participants were arrested for joining.
On 15 August 2006, after numerous death threats and continued harassment, Gao disappeared while visiting his sister's family. On 21 September 2006, he was officially arrested. On 22 December 2006, Gao was convicted of "subversion", and was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended, and placed on probation for five years. The sentence also deprives him of his political rights – the freedom to publish or speak out against the government – for one year. He had publicly confessed to a number of errors. On his liberation, Gao recanted his confession and described torture he said he experienced during his 54 days in custody. He also said captors threatened he would be killed if he spoke publicly about the matter. In chapter 6 of his memoirs written in 2006, Gao criticised the CCP for employing "the most savage, most immoral, and most illegal means to torture our mothers, torture our wives, torture our children, and torture our brothers and sisters…". He formally renounced his membership of "this inhumane, unjust, and evil Party", declaring it "the proudest day of my life.
The American Board of Trial Advocates selected Gao to receive the prestigious Courageous Advocacy Award; they had invited him to receive the award personally in Santa Barbara
, California on 30 June 2007.
In the fall of 2007, Gao’s memoir A China More Just was published in English in the United States.
On 22 September 2007, after writing open letters to Vice-President of the European Parliament
, Edward McMillan-Scott, and then to US Congress calling for a boycott of the Olympics, Gao was once again taken away from his home, where he had been under house arrest, by Chinese secret police. A letter from Gao claimed that he endured ten days of torture that involved beatings, electric prods and even toothpicks to his naked body, followed by weeks of emotional torture. Gao wrote that his torturers said his case had become personal with 'uncles' in the state security apparatus after he had repeatedly publicised previous mistreatment.
ten days later. During his disappearance, in response to queries from his family about his whereabouts, police claimed he lost his way and went missing in September 2009. For several months, Gao was not charged, and the Government never acknowledged his whereabouts, nor their involvement in his disappearance. His last contact with friends or family was one phone call placed to his brother in July 2009.
In January 2010, Gao's brother, Gao Zhiyi, told an interviewer that the Beijing police told him that Gao "lost his way and went missing" on 25 September 2009, igniting fears that Gao was no longer alive. On 21 January 2010, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a cryptic statement that Gao was “where he should be,” and said he did not know Gao's whereabouts at a later press conference. During the visit to China by David Miliband in March, the Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, said that Gao had been sentenced on subversion charges, but denied he had been tortured.
On 28 March 2010 Gao was found to be living near Wutai Mountain. Addressing a reporter by telephone, he said he was not in a position to be interviewed, but confirmed he had been sentenced and freed. A few days later, he met the media, appearing thinner and more subdued than in the past and said that he had abandoned his criticism of the government in the hope of reuniting with his wife and two children, who secretly fled China early last year.
In April, 2010 Gao's family reported they have not heard from him since he returned from a visit to Xinjiang 10 days previously. The South China Morning Post reports that Gao left Beijing to visit his in-laws in Urumqi, carrying just a backpack between 9 and 12 April. Gao's father-in-law said Gao arrived at his house in the company of four police officers, spent just one night there before once again being taken away by police. His father-in-law called a friend of his in Beijing on 21 April to say Gao was to board a plane at 4.30 p.m. His father-in-law said Gao had promised to call after returning home, but there was no word. Emily Lau and Albert Ho said Gao's disappearance "prov[ed] that justice and the rule of law is disappearing in communist China – if it ever existed at all".
The report of Gao's 2010 disappearance and detention was considered by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which, in March, 2011, called for his release.
Dissident
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting alleged human rights abuses in China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
. Because of his work, Zhisheng has been disbarred and detained by the Chinese government
Government of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
several times and released. His commitment to defending his clients is influenced by his Christian beliefs
Christianity in China
Christianity in China is a growing minority religion that comprises Protestants , Catholics , and a small number of Orthodox Christians. Although its lineage in China is not as ancient as the institutional religions of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism, and the social system and ideology of...
and their tenets on morality and compassion.
Zhisheng's memoir, A China More Just (2007), documents his "fight as a rights lawyer in the world's largest communist state." In the book, he accuses the ruling Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
of state-sponsored torture
State terrorism
State terrorism may refer to acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people. It can also refer to acts of violence by a state against its own people.-Definition:...
and reports having been tortured by the Chinese secret police. He disappeared
Missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....
in April 2010 and has not been seen or heard from since.
Background
Gao was born and grew up in a cave dwelling in Shaanxi Province with six siblings; his father died at the age of 40. He briefly worked in a coal mine.With his family not being able to afford elementary school, Gao said he sat listening outside the classroom window. Later, an uncle helped him attend secondary school, after which he qualified to join the People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
. His unit was stationed at a base in Kashgar, in Xinjiang region, and he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Later, he left the PLA and began working as a food vendor. In 1991, inspired by a newspaper article that mentioned a plan by Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
, then China's paramount leader, to train 150,000 new lawyers and develop the Chinese legal system
Law of the People's Republic of China
Law of the People's Republic of China is the legal regime of the People's Republic of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau....
, he took a course in Law. Gao credited his excellent memory of titles and clauses for passing all his exams; he passed the bar in 1995.
Early career
In 1989, the legislature passed the Administrative Procedure Law, which gave Chinese citizens the right to sue state agencies for the first time. In the 1990s, Gao represented the family of a Xinjiang boy who became comatose after a doctor erroneously gave him ethanolEthanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
intravenously; Gao won $100,000 in damages for a boy who had lost his hearing in another malpractice
Malpractice
In law, malpractice is a type of negligence in, which the professional under a duty to act, fails to follow generally accepted professional standards, and that breach of duty is the proximate cause of injury to a plaintiff who suffers harm...
case. He acted on behalf of a private businessman who had taken control of and redressed a troubled state-owned company when the district government used force to reclaim it after it became profitable. The case went to the Supreme Court, with a verdict in favour of the businessman. However, according to Gao, he has been a victim of reprisals from Xinjiang leaders, who warned clients and court officials to shun him.
Shengzhi Law Office
Gao was director, founder, and star litigator of the Beijing-based Shengzhi Law Office, having moved to Beijing in 2000. In 2001, he was recognised by China’s Ministry of Justice as "one of the country’s 10 best lawyers". Over the following years, he defended a wide range of clients who had been victims of injustice. Gao’s committed involvement with such cases, he says, is strongly bound with the emphasis of his Christian identity on morality and compassion. One significant case he spearheaded was for fair compensation for a client whose home was expropriated for a building project connected with the 2008 Summer Olympics2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. However, Gao cites an internal document drafted by the central government he had read that instructed all district courts to reject cases involving such land disputes, which he said was "blatantly illegal", but which "every court in Beijing blindly obeyed." Other cases include:
- A land dispute case against Taishi village officials
- A class-action law suit against local authorities over coercion in implementation of China’s family planning policies
- Won a case for six factory workers from GuangdongGuangdongGuangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province who had been detained for protesting exploitation by their employer. - Appealed the sentence of Zheng Yichun, a journalist and former professor who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in September for his on-line writings
- Provided legal help for Falun GongFalun GongFalun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
practitioners, including Huang WeiHuang WeiHuang Wei was a Chinese Nationalist military general who fought in the Encirclement Campaigns, Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War.-Early life and career:...
, who was illegally sentenced to three years of re-education through laborLaogaiLaogai , the abbreviation for Láodòng Gǎizào , which means "reform through labor," is a slogan of the Chinese criminal justice system and has been used to refer to the use of prison labor and prison farms in the People's Republic of China . It is estimated that in the last fifty years more than...
in ShijiazhuangShijiazhuangShijiazhuang is the capital and largest city of North China's Hebei province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about south of Beijing...
. - Provided legal help for an illegal Chinese house church pastor Cai ZhuohuaCai ZhuohuaCai Zhuohua is a Beijing minister active in the Chinese house church movement. He was arrested on 11 September 2004 for printing Bibles without a permit. Previous to his arrest more than 200,000 Bibles had been found.-External links:*...
, who was sentenced to three years in prison for printing and distributing copies of the BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
.
He was named one of the 10 Best Lawyers in China, by the Ministry of Justice in 2001, for his work in defending victims of medical malpractice and fighting for just compensation for dispossessed landowners. Following the Beijing land compensation case, he entered what was to become a protracted battle over several hundred acres of farmland that Guangdong Province had seized to construct a university. Although Gao met with many legal impediments, he took his campaign to the people. He publicly accused Guangdong officials of their "brazen murderous schemes", which stoked public anger and helped his clients obtain more generous compensation. In the summer of 2005, Gao defended fellow lawyer-activist Zhu Jiuhu, who was accused of "disturbing public order" while representing private investors in oil wells that were seized by the government in Shaanxi. He secured Zhu's release several months later through an intensive publicity campaign, although Zhu was barred from practicing law. Gao has also taken cases on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners. The Beijing Judicial Bureau has prohibited him from acting in certain cases and clients, including Falun Gong, the Shaanxi oil case and a recent incident of political unrest in Taishi village in Guangdong
Taishi, Guangzhou
Taishi village is a small hamlet , in the Panyu district of Guangzhou, China. It is most famous for being the flashpoint for democratic election reform in the region during 2005.-External links:*...
. He refused to drop any of them, arguing that the bureau had no legal authority to dictate what cases he accepts or rejects.
In 2005, he resigned from the Communist Party. On 18 October, The Epoch Times published a letter Gao wrote to Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
and Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
urging them to end the persecution of Falun Gong
Persecution of Falun Gong
The persecution of Falun Gong refers to the campaign initiated by the Chinese Communist Party against practitioners of Falun Gong since July 1999, aimed at eliminating the practice in the People's Republic of China...
practitioners, detailing a wide range of abuses they suffer in custody, including torture and executions. Shortly after sending the letter, he received a visit from State Security
State Security
State Security can refer to:* general concepts of security agency or national security* Committee for State Security * State Security * State Security...
agents. Gao's family was put under 24-hour police surveillance autumn 2005. On 4 November, shortly after being warned to retract a second open letter he had written about his Falun Gong cases, Gao received a new summons from the judicial bureau accusing him of a "serious violation of the Law on Managing the Registration of Law Firms" for failing to promptly register new business address following a move. He was ordered to suspend operations for a year. On appeal in late November, the bureau demanded that Gao hand over his personal law license as well as his firm's operating permit by 14 December, threatening use of force if he failed to comply; at that time, Gao had eluded being tailed by Security, and went to north-east China to take statements from Falun Gong practitioners who alleged torture in the hands of security forces.
Detentions
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
alleged on 17 January 2006 that Gao narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, planned as a traffic accident ordered by Chinese secret police. On 4 February 2006, Gao, together with Hu Jia
Hu Jia
Hu Jia may refer to:*Hu Jia , a Chinese pro-democracy and AIDS activist*Hu Jia , a Chinese Olympic diver...
and other activists, launched a “Relay Hunger Strike for Human Rights,” whereby different activists and citizens fasted for 24 hours in rotation. The hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
was joined by people in 29 provinces, as well as overseas, though several participants were arrested for joining.
On 15 August 2006, after numerous death threats and continued harassment, Gao disappeared while visiting his sister's family. On 21 September 2006, he was officially arrested. On 22 December 2006, Gao was convicted of "subversion", and was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended, and placed on probation for five years. The sentence also deprives him of his political rights – the freedom to publish or speak out against the government – for one year. He had publicly confessed to a number of errors. On his liberation, Gao recanted his confession and described torture he said he experienced during his 54 days in custody. He also said captors threatened he would be killed if he spoke publicly about the matter. In chapter 6 of his memoirs written in 2006, Gao criticised the CCP for employing "the most savage, most immoral, and most illegal means to torture our mothers, torture our wives, torture our children, and torture our brothers and sisters…". He formally renounced his membership of "this inhumane, unjust, and evil Party", declaring it "the proudest day of my life.
The American Board of Trial Advocates selected Gao to receive the prestigious Courageous Advocacy Award; they had invited him to receive the award personally in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, California on 30 June 2007.
In the fall of 2007, Gao’s memoir A China More Just was published in English in the United States.
On 22 September 2007, after writing open letters to Vice-President of the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, Edward McMillan-Scott, and then to US Congress calling for a boycott of the Olympics, Gao was once again taken away from his home, where he had been under house arrest, by Chinese secret police. A letter from Gao claimed that he endured ten days of torture that involved beatings, electric prods and even toothpicks to his naked body, followed by weeks of emotional torture. Gao wrote that his torturers said his case had become personal with 'uncles' in the state security apparatus after he had repeatedly publicised previous mistreatment.
Disappearances
In February 2009, Gao was taken away for interrogation by Chinese security agents and had not been seen until he resurfaced in Shanxi in March 2010. One month prior to his disappearance, Gao's wife and two children escaped China with the help of underground religious adherents. They arrived in the United States and were granted right of asylumRight of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
ten days later. During his disappearance, in response to queries from his family about his whereabouts, police claimed he lost his way and went missing in September 2009. For several months, Gao was not charged, and the Government never acknowledged his whereabouts, nor their involvement in his disappearance. His last contact with friends or family was one phone call placed to his brother in July 2009.
In January 2010, Gao's brother, Gao Zhiyi, told an interviewer that the Beijing police told him that Gao "lost his way and went missing" on 25 September 2009, igniting fears that Gao was no longer alive. On 21 January 2010, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a cryptic statement that Gao was “where he should be,” and said he did not know Gao's whereabouts at a later press conference. During the visit to China by David Miliband in March, the Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, said that Gao had been sentenced on subversion charges, but denied he had been tortured.
On 28 March 2010 Gao was found to be living near Wutai Mountain. Addressing a reporter by telephone, he said he was not in a position to be interviewed, but confirmed he had been sentenced and freed. A few days later, he met the media, appearing thinner and more subdued than in the past and said that he had abandoned his criticism of the government in the hope of reuniting with his wife and two children, who secretly fled China early last year.
In April, 2010 Gao's family reported they have not heard from him since he returned from a visit to Xinjiang 10 days previously. The South China Morning Post reports that Gao left Beijing to visit his in-laws in Urumqi, carrying just a backpack between 9 and 12 April. Gao's father-in-law said Gao arrived at his house in the company of four police officers, spent just one night there before once again being taken away by police. His father-in-law called a friend of his in Beijing on 21 April to say Gao was to board a plane at 4.30 p.m. His father-in-law said Gao had promised to call after returning home, but there was no word. Emily Lau and Albert Ho said Gao's disappearance "prov[ed] that justice and the rule of law is disappearing in communist China – if it ever existed at all".
The report of Gao's 2010 disappearance and detention was considered by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which, in March, 2011, called for his release.
External links
- 高智晟网站- Gao's supporters' website in Chinese
- Gao Zhisheng- Gao's supporters' website website in English
- China Aid Association – Free Gao Campaign
- Amnesty International 2008 Report states that Gao Zhisheng was tortured in the governments custody.
- The German Gao Zhisheng Website
- Gao Zhisheng at Radio Free China