Civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng arrested on subversion charge

16 October 2006

Prominent Beijing-based civil rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has defended the rights of labour activists and human rights activists, was arrested on 21 September "on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power", according to his lawyer Mo Shaoping.

Gao, in his early 40s, is a famously combative rights lawyer who has taken up the causes of dispossessed oil investors, labour activists and -- most controversially -- members of Falun Gong, an outlawed spiritual sect.

His arrest marked another step in the Chinese Communist Party's drive to stifle an expanding "rights defense" network across the country that seeks to expand citizens' rights through courts and publicity campaigns.

"In the government's eyes, Gao is the worst case. He's a lawyer who has spoken up for Falun Gong and refused to back down, even after they suspended his office license," Hu Jia, a Beijing-based dissident who knows Gao, told Reuters.

Gao's office license was suspended by the Beijing Bureau of Justice for one year in early November last year shortly after the lawyer sent a letter to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao calling for an end to the widespread detention and torture of Falun Gong practitioners in China, and after he refused to withdraw from other politically sensitive legal cases as demanded by Beijing officials.

"Right now, the government's number one enemy is the rights defense movement, and Gao Zhisheng has been one of its leading figures," Hu Jia added.

Gao was detained by Beijing police in August, one of several prominent rights lawyers and activists who have been jailed, detained or put under house arrest in past months.

Earlier this year, Gao organized a rolling hunger-strike to protest police harassment of political activists.

He also helped campaign to seek the release of Chen Guangcheng, a blind activist sentenced to over four years jail in August on charges that critics said were trumped up by angry local officials.

Mo Shaoping said he was not told of the specific accusations against Gao. Under Chinese law, those convicted of inciting subversion can be jailed for up to five years -- longer in serious cases.

"The public security bureau said that because it involved state secrets, we couldn't visit him. But inciting subversion is a public matter, you can't do it in secret, so we'll apply again to see him," he said.

Police now have months to continue investigating Gao before deciding whether to press for a trial, Mo said.

Gao's family is under house arrest in Beijing, according to Hu Jia and other family friends.

Source: Reuters (13 October 2006)

16 Oct 2006

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