News and Events 新闻活动

Disappeared Lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, Sent Back to Prison

Date: 2011-12-16

On Dec. 16, 2011, China’s official news agency reported that the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court sent disappeared lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, back to prison for “seriously violating probation rules.” Gao was sentenced to three years in prison with five years of probation on Dec. 22, 2006 for inciting subversion of state power—the court’s decision to revoke his probation means that Gao will spend the next 3 years in jail.  Gao, a prominent human rights lawyer, was last seen on April 20, 2010; before that, Gao had been held incommunicado from Feb. 2009 before he resurfaced on March 18, 2010. Chinese authorities have consistently denied that Gao was in their custody, insisting that they had no knowledge of his whereabouts. Gao’s secret detention and disappearances, compounded by this recent sentencing by the Beijing court, is an extremely worrisome indicator the use of legal tools to camouflage illegal disappearances. For more news coverage on Gao’s case, see, this Dec. 16, 2011 New York Times article.

On Dec. 16, 2011, China’s official news agency reported that the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court sent disappeared lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, back to prison for “seriously violating probation rules.” Gao was sentenced to three years in prison with five years of probation on Dec. 22, 2006 for inciting subversion of state power—the court’s decision to revoke his probation means that Gao will spend the next 3 years in jail.  Gao, a prominent human rights lawyer, was last seen on April 20, 2010; before that, Gao had been held incommunicado from Feb. 2009 before he resurfaced on March 18, 2010. Chinese authorities have consistently denied that Gao was in their custody, insisting that they had no knowledge of his whereabouts. Gao’s secret detention and disappearances, compounded by this recent sentencing by the Beijing court, is an extremely worrisome indicator the use of legal tools to camouflage illegal disappearances. For more news coverage on Gao’s case, see, this Dec. 16, 2011 New York Times article.