Gao Zhisheng

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gao Zhisheng

Gao Zhisheng ( Chinese  高 智 晟 , Pinyin Gāo Zhìshèng , born April 20, 1964 in Shaanxi Province , People's Republic of China ) is a Chinese human rights lawyer and dissident who, after his involvement in lawsuits against human rights violations, was prevented from working as a lawyer, imprisoned and Has been physically abused by law enforcement agencies. Gao supported members of religious minorities such as Falun Gong and members of underground Christian house churches . He also stood up for the blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng . In 2006 Gao published an autobiography, which was published a year later in English translation under the title A China More Just and in 2008 in German under the title Chinas Hoffnung. My life and struggle as a lawyer in the largest communist state . Gao is a practicing Christian and was a 2008 candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize . On December 16, 2011, the Chinese Xinhua News Agency reported that Gao had been sentenced to three years in prison for allegedly violating suspended sentences. On August 7, 2014, Gao was released from custody. In August 2017, Gao was abducted again. Gao found support for his human rights work from, among others, the Nobel Prize for Literature Herta Müller , the former GDR civil rights activist Arnold Vaatz and the Vice President of the European Parliament Rainer Wieland .

biography

Gao was born in Shaanxi Province and grew up there with six siblings in poverty in a cave dwelling. His father died at the age of 40. Gao said in his biography that his family was not financially able to send him to elementary school, so he listened to class at the window outside a classroom. Gao worked briefly in a coal mine. An uncle later helped him to go to middle school. After that he was qualified to join the People's Liberation Army. He was stationed in Kashgar, Xinjiang Autonomous Region . In the army, Gao joined the Chinese Communist Party . After he was released from the army, Gao worked as a grocer. In 1991, inspired by a newspaper article in which Deng Xiaoping , the then leader of China, reported on plans to train 150,000 new lawyers and develop the Chinese legal system, Gao took a law course. Gao attributed it to his excellent memory that he passed titles and exams on all of his exams. In 1995 Gao successfully passed his law exam.

Gao won a third of his trials. He became famous for representing the family of a boy from Xinjiang who fell into a coma after a doctor mistakenly injected him with intravenous ethanol . Gao achieved in this compensation process for a boy who by this medical treatment errors had lost his hearing, a compensation of 95,000 euros.

While working in Xinjiang, he won a lawsuit for an entrepreneur who had taken over an unprofitable state-owned company through privatization. When this company was rebuilt and was profitable, the district government wanted to reclaim it by force. Gao represented the entrepreneur up to the Supreme Court, which ruled the case in the entrepreneur's favor. However, thereafter, the Gao was the victim of harassment and retaliation by local authorities, who warned customers and court officials to stay away from him. This made his legal practice impossible and Gao was forced to leave Xinjiang.

In 2000, Gao moved to Beijing and founded the Zhi Sheng Law Office . In 2001, Gao was named one of the top ten lawyers in China by the Ministry of Justice. The choice was justified on the basis of his professionalism and integrity as well as his willingness to support poor people in litigation against government and administrative bodies without offsetting costs. In the years that followed, he defended a wide range of clients who had been victims of injustice. Gao said his dedicated involvement in such cases was strongly tied to his Christian identity for morality and compassion.

In December 2005, Gao resigned from the Communist Party. His rationale was, “This [Chinese Communist] Party has used the most primitive, immoral, and illegal means to torture our mothers, torture our women, torture our children, and torture our brothers and sisters ... Today I am kicking, Gao Zhisheng , formally out of this inhumane, unjust and evil party. This is the proudest day of my life. "

In 2007, Gao Zhisheng was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights . The award could not be given to him.

Known Lawsuits in Shengzhi

  • A real estate lawsuit against members of the Tiashi village administration
  • A class action lawsuit against local authorities for coercion in the implementation of family planning guidelines.
  • A trial in the case of six factory workers arrested for protests against exploitation by their employers.
  • Appeal of a seven-year prison sentence imposed on Zheng Yichun , a journalist and former professor, for being posted on the Internet.
  • Provided legal assistance to Falun Gong members, including Huang Wei, who was sentenced to three years of re-education through labor .
  • Legal assistance to house church priest Cai Zhuohua, who was sentenced to three years in prison for distributing Bibles.

Turning to Christianity

According to Gao, he first read the Bible when he defended Pastor Cai Zhuohua in 2004 on charges of "illegal business practices" (meaning possession of Bibles). While reading this left him cold, that changed when he was persecuted by the authorities. According to his own statements, this is how he got to know God and joined the Christians. He experienced strength from God and in 2006 received a vision from God for the first time .

Assault and imprisonment

Gao was beaten and handcuffed by 30 masked men on August 15, 2006 after a series of intimidation, assault, and attempted murder in Shandong Province . The attackers handcuffed him, blindfolded his mouth and eyes, and pulled a hood over him. After driving for several hours, he was taken to Beijing and handed over to the police, who tortured him in a variety of ways. This also included fixing the arms and legs on a "bondage board" for 590 hours.

In the subsequent trial in December 2006, he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, which was suspended for a period of five years. He was charged with attempting to overthrow state power.

On February 4, 2009, more than 10 officers reportedly arrested Gao early in the morning in his hometown in Shaanxi Province . He was released around September 2009; However, he did not send a sign of life until the end of March 2010. In April 2010, Chinese security forces disappeared Gao Zhisheng again without a trace. The attack on him in Shaanxi was preceded by the flight of his wife Geng He and his then 15-year-old daughter and five-year-old son to Thailand . Gao's family was granted political asylum in the United States .

A few days before his probation period expired, Gao was arrested again on December 16, 2011 for allegedly violating probation requirements. In early January 2012, the American human rights organization Chinaaid reported that he was in the remote Shaya Prison in Aksu Governorate , more than 1,000 kilometers west of the regional capital, Urumqi . Gao was released from prison on August 7, 2014 after completing his sentence. The human rights organization Amnesty International had campaigned for the activist's release. However, Gao was under strictly screened house arrest in Xian, central China. On August 17, 2017, the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) reported that Gao had been abducted again.

Awards

In April 2020, Gao was named this year's recipient of the Lin Zhao Freedom Prize in the absence of ChinaAid .

Web links

Commons : Gao Zhisheng  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Gao Zhisheng, `` A China More Just ''. Broad Press (2007)
  2. ^ "A China More Just" - Story of Lawyer Gao Zhisheng . In: Status of Chinese People . July 18, 2007, accessed July 9, 2010.
  3. ↑ Gao Zhisheng, Chinas Hope, My Life and Struggle as a Lawyer in the Largest Communist State, Agenda Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-89688-355-1
  4. ↑ “Nobel Peace Prize May Go to Chinese Activist, Angering Beijing” , Bloomberg.com (October 6, 2008). Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  5. ^ "Beijing court withdraws probation on ex-lawyer convicted of overthrowing state" ( January 9, 2012 memento in the Internet Archive ), Xinhua (December 16, 2011). Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Gao Zhisheng: Human rights lawyer in China, tortured and arbitrarily detained" , ISHR. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  7. ↑ a b Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng released from prison on BBC News, August 7, 2014, accessed August 8, 2014
  8. ↑ a b c Internationally known human rights lawyer abducted in China , ISHR, August 17, 2017, accessed on August 21, 2017
  9. ^ A b c d Joseph Kahn, Legal Gadfly Bites Hard, and Beijing Slaps Him , The New York Times, December 13, 2005, accessed August 20, 2017
  10. ^ "Legal Gadfly Bites Hard, and Beijing Slaps Him" The New York Times. December 15, 2005. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  11. Jump up ↑ Richard Finney, Ding Xiao, Chinas Urban Christians an Unknown Quantity For Beijing , Radio Free Asia, September 4, 2007, accessed August 20, 2017
  12. ↑ Gao Zhisheng, Celebrated Chinese Lawyer Quits Chinese Communist Party , The Epoch Times, December 14, 2005, accessed August 20, 2007
  13. ↑ Bruno Kreisky Prize, 13th award www.kreisky.org. (Accessed January 2, 2012)
  14. ↑ "The Stella Shoe Workers'Protest" ( Memento of 5 December 2008 at the Internet Archive ). China Labor Bulletin, Retrieved October 8, 2008
  15. ↑ Gao Zhisheng, excerpt from A China More Just, available online at: http://www.faluninfo.net/article/510/ Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  16. ↑ Amnesty International, "China: Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng Survives Attempt on His Life." ( Memento of February 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved October 8, 2008.
  17. ^ Gao Zhisheng: Struggle against the Gods
  18. ↑ Tag: 'Gao Zhisheng' ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ); China - Trial of Gao Zhisheng (Taken Question)
  19. ↑ Gao Zhisheng: Human rights lawyer in China http://www.igfm.de/Gao-Zhisheng-Menschenrechtsanwalt-in-China-gefoltert-und-willk.3064.0.html , ISHR - Current Appeals
  20. ↑ Torture Account by Missing Rights Defense Lawyer Gao Zhisheng archive link ( memento from February 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Human Rights in China (HRiC) February 8, 2009
  21. ↑ derstandard.at: Missing human rights lawyer Gao alive ( memento from April 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). March 28, 2010
  22. ↑ a b derstandard.at: Prominent civil rights activist Gao Zisheng imprisoned . January 1, 2012
  23. ↑ http://amnesty.de/2013/2/1/familie-durfte-gao-zhisheng-besuchen?destination=startseite
  24. ↑ Disappeared lawyer receives Lin Zhao Freedom Award , ChinaAid, April 21, 2020, accessed May 2, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Gao Zhisheng
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 高 智 晟 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese civil rights attorney
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Shaanxi Province , People's Republic of China