"Lawyer missing in China resurfaces" by Associated Press | March 29, 2010
BEIJING — A dissident Chinese lawyer who was missing for more than a year resurfaced yesterday, saying he is living in northern China and wants only to spend time with his family away from media attention.
Twitter messages appeared yesterday saying Gao Zhisheng’s family had been in touch with him and listed his phone number. It was the first contact that friends, family, and reporters have had with Gao since he disappeared on Feb. 4, 2009, from his hometown in central China.
Before being jailed and effectively muzzled four years ago, Gao was a dauntless civil liberties lawyer. He took on sensitive cases involving underground Christians and the banned Falun Gong spiritual group and was also an advocate of reform.
The United States and the European Union had called on China to investigate his disappearance. Chinese authorities gave vague explanations about Gao’s whereabouts, heightening worries that he had been jailed or tortured, as he was previously.
What CHUTZPAH, huh?
Contacted briefly on his cellphone, Gao said he is living in Wutai Shan, a mountain range famous as a Buddhist retreat, and that he is “free at present.’’
No wonder no one could get a hold of him.
“I just want to be in peace and quiet for a while and be reunited with my family,’’ Gao said. “Most people belong with family, I have not been with mine for a long time.’’
I would like also some peace and quiet.
Gao declined to answer further questions, saying he was not allowed by law, nor was he willing, to accept media interviews. Bans on interviews are often a condition of parole. Gao was arrested in August 2006, convicted at a one-day trial, and placed under house arrest. State media said he was accused of subversion on the basis of nine articles posted on foreign websites.
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"Missing China lawyer has been judged" by Associated Press | January 23, 2010
BEIJING - Gao Zhisheng, one of China’s most daring lawyers, has drawn international attention for the unusual length of his disappearance and for his earlier reports of the torture he said he faced from security forces. In a memoir, he described severe beatings, electric shocks to his genitals, and cigarettes held to his eyes....
Seeing as America does all that, I have no standing to criticize.
Gao has been one of China’s best-known activist lawyers, taking on sensitive cases involving the banned Falun Gong spiritual group and eventually advocating constitutional reform. After he disappeared last year, it was presumed police had taken him into custody. It has never been clear what happened to him after that....
How many people in our secret black sites and floating dungeons, MSM?
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Well, now we know here he is.
Torture worked, didn't it?
Also see: Courting China
