On December 22, 2006, a Beijing court sentenced Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng to three years in prison for 'inciting subversion', the charge frequently used to silence independent voices like that of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo. But the court suspended Gao's sentence subject to five years of probation. What seemed like a light sentence, however, soon turned into a nightmare of 'disappearances' and torture.
Gao was last seen on April 20, 2010. For 20 months afterwards, there was widespread uncertainty about whether he was still alive. Then, last December 16, just days before his five-year probation would have been completed, the Chinese government announced that it had been revoked and that he would begin serving the three-year prison term. On January 1, the government notified Gao's brother that it is now holding him in a prison in far-western China. Today, Gao's international pro bono legal team submitted a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, seeking a determination that this latest imprisonment violates international law.
Gao's case demonstrates how far the Chinese government will go to suppress legitimate criticism by its citizens. A self-trained lawyer and once rising star in China's legal establishment, Gao found himself under attack after representing some of China's most vulnerable citizens - victims of illegal government land grabs and religious persecution. While lawyers in countries that respect the rule of law are often lauded for such work, in China they are often punished.
In 2005, authorities closed Gao's law firm. He and his family were placed under surveillance, repeatedly harassed, and even physically abused. Because Gao continued his work, in August 2006 police detained him. While in custody without access to counsel, interrogators tortured him, ultimately securing a forced confession after threatening his wife and children.
The family and their lawyers were not notified of Gao's 'trial', which lasted less than a day and focused on his writings that were critical of the government. The probation he was granted proved to be like no other. Not content to hold him in almost complete isolation under de facto house arrest, the government repeatedly 'disappeared' and tortured him.
In September 2007, Gao wrote an open letter exposing this misconduct. The government reacted by abducting and holding Gao in secret for over a month. His captors ferociously beat him. They subjected him to electric shocks in the face and genitals. They pierced his genitals with toothpicks and held lit cigarettes to his eyes. When Gao passed out from the pain, guards urinated on him. His skin turned black. Before releasing Gao, authorities threatened to torture him in front of his family and kill him if he disclosed the torture.