Gao Zhisheng

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Christianity in China Portal

Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), age 41, is a Chinese army veteran, self-taught lawyer, and Christian whose law practice has been suspended by the Chinese authorities.

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[edit] Background

Mr. Gao was born and raised in poverty in Shaanxi Province with six siblings. He joined the People's Liberation Army, was stationed at a base in Kashgar, in Xinjiang region, and became a Communist Party of China member.

He took a self-taught course on the law and won many cases in court, including winning 100,000 dollars in a medical lawsuit and a businessman's privatization lawsuit against local authorities in Xinjiang.

In 2000, he moved to Beijing and established the Shengzhi Law Office with a half dozen other lawyers.

In 2001, he was voted as one of the 10 Best Lawyers in China, because of his professionalism and integrity, often helping poor people without fees suing local Chinese government branches and officials.

In December 2005, he quit [1] the Communist Party of China.

[edit] Shengzhi Law Office cases

  • 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
  • appealing the sentence of Zheng Yichun, a journalist and former professor who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in September for his on-line writings
  • legal help for Falun Gong
  • legal help for an illegal Chinese house church.

[edit] Conflicts with the Chinese government

Gao is director, founder, and star litigator of the Beijing-based Shengzhi Law Office. The office, because it is one few Chinese law firms involved with human rights issues, has been suspended by the Chinese authorities for one year. His committed involvement with such cases is strongly bound with the emphasis of his Christian identity on morality and compassion.[2][3]

In 2001, he was recognised by China’s Ministry of Justice as "one of the country’s 10 best lawyers". In 2004, he won a case for a Falun Gong practitioner who was illegally persecuted, and has been under pressure ever since.[4] Gao and his family's ordeal started when his conscience led him to start investigating the persecution of Falun Gong and wrote three open letters to the top Chinese officials.

Amnesty International says, "The closure comes shortly after the firm’s director sent an open letter to the Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao urging them to end the “barbaric” persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China. It is believed that the closure of the firm is closely linked with this letter. [...] Amnesty International is concerned that this suspension will severely undercut the work of human rights activists in the country." [1]

Here follows parts from an interview with Gao Zhisheng in Dagens Nyheter 27 February 2006. At least eight police officers shadow him and his family. In his open letters, he criticised the communist party for crimes against human rights, particularly those rights that are written into Chinese laws but not followed.

His criticism is remarkable because he lives openly in Beijing, where he is vulnerable for retribution.

On November 4, 2005, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice's official notice closing the firm for failure to notify the authorities of its change of address and the “illegal” submission of legal documents to a lawyer who does not work for the firm, is received by Gao Zhisheng.

On January 17, 2006, according to an Epoch Times report, Mr. Gao narrowly escaped an assassination attempt allegedly ordered by the Chinese government. A traffic accident was allegedly set up by plainclothes policemen.[4] This came in the wake of the release of Gao's research reports on the persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China, and his subsequent resignation of CCP membership.

On August 15, 2006, after numerous death threats and endless harassment, while visiting his sister's family, Mr. Gao was abducted by the Chinese secret police without any legal proceeding. No one in public knows his whereabouts.

On September 21, 2006, Gao was "officially" arrested. On October 13, his family-appointed lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said that Mr. Gao was suspected of inciting subversion.[5]

On December 22, 2006, Mr. Gao was convicted of subversion. He was sentenced to three years in prison, which was 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.

On June 2, 2007, Gao was beaten by a national security officer after he complained about the officers assaulting his wife.

On June 24, 2007, Gao was kidnapped by the Chinese government in order to prevent him from attending an award ceremony in the United States. The American Board of Trial Advocates selected Gao to receive the very prestigious Courageous Advocacy Award. The Board wished to personally present the award to Gao in Santa Barbara, California on June 30, 2007.

On September 22, 2007, according to Hu Jia, a Chinese political activist, Gao was secretly taken away once again by Chinese police. His whereabouts are unknown at this moment.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gao, Zhisheng (Dec. 14, 2005) "Celebrated Chinese Lawyer Quits Chinese Communist Party", The Epoch Times, retrieved Mar. 7, 2008
  2. ^ Finney, Richard and Ding Xiao (Sept. 4, 2007) "China's Urban Christians an Unknown Quantity For Beijing", Radio Free Asia, retrieved Oct. 7, 2007
  3. ^ Gao Zhisheng
  4. ^ a b Reid, Graham (Apr 29-May 5, 2006) "Nothing left to lose", New Zealand Listener, retrieved July 6, 2006
  5. ^ "China lawyer held for incitement", BBC News, 2006-10-13. Retrieved on 2006-10-13. 

[edit] External links