33 Facts About Gao Zhisheng

Gao Zhisheng was born on 20 April 1964 and is a Chinese human rights attorney and dissident known for defending activists and religious minorities and documenting human rights abuses in China.

Gao Zhisheng last disappeared in February 2009 and was unofficially detained until December 2011, when it was announced that he has now been imprisoned for three years.

At the beginning of 2012, Gao Zhisheng's brother said he had received a court document saying his brother was in Shayar jail in Xinjiang.

In 2014, it was reported that Gao Zhisheng was released from jail and put under house arrest.

Gao Zhisheng disappeared again in August 2017 in an apparent attempt to escape house arrest and was taken back into custody on his recapture in September.

Gao Zhisheng's unit was stationed at a base in Kashgar, in Xinjiang region, and he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

Gao Zhisheng credited his excellent memory of titles and clauses for passing all his exams; he passed the bar in 1995.

Gao Zhisheng acted on behalf of a private businessman who had taken control of and redressed a troubled state-owned company when the district government used force to reclaim it after it became profitable.

Gao Zhisheng was director, founder of the Beijing-based Zhi Sheng Law Firm, having moved to Beijing in 2000.

Gao Zhisheng's committed involvement with such cases, he says, is strongly bound with the emphasis of his Christian identity on morality and compassion.

Gao Zhisheng publicly accused Guangdong officials of "brazen murderous schemes", which stoked public anger and helped his clients obtain more generous compensation.

Gao Zhisheng secured Zhu's release several months later through an intensive publicity campaign, although Zhu was barred from practicing law.

Gao Zhisheng refused to drop any of them, arguing that the bureau had no legal authority to dictate what cases he accepts or rejects.

Gao Zhisheng's family was put under 24-hour police surveillance in the autumn of 2005.

Gao Zhisheng was ordered to suspend operations for a year.

Amnesty International alleged on 17 January 2006 that Gao Zhisheng narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, planned as a traffic accident ordered by Chinese secret police.

On 15 August 2006, after numerous death threats and continued harassment, Gao Zhisheng disappeared while visiting his sister's family.

On 22 December 2006, Gao Zhisheng was convicted of "subversion", and was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended, and placed on probation for five years.

Gao Zhisheng had publicly confessed to a number of errors.

On his liberation, Gao Zhisheng recanted his confession and described torture he said he experienced during his 54 days in custody.

Gao Zhisheng said his captors threatened he would be killed if he spoke publicly about the matter.

The American Board of Trial Advocates selected Gao Zhisheng to receive the prestigious Courageous Advocacy Award; they had invited him to receive the award personally in Santa Barbara, California on 30 June 2007.

On 22 September 2007, after writing open letters to vice-president of the European Parliament, Edward McMillan-Scott, and then to US Congress calling for a boycott of the Olympics, Gao Zhisheng was taken away from his home, where he had been under house arrest, by Chinese secret police.

Gao Zhisheng wrote that his torturers said his case had become personal with 'uncles' in the state security apparatus after he had repeatedly publicised previous mistreatment.

In February 2009, Gao Zhisheng was taken away for interrogation by Chinese security agents and had not been seen until he resurfaced in Shanxi in March 2010.

For several months, Gao Zhisheng was not charged, and the Government never acknowledged his whereabouts, nor their involvement in his disappearance.

On 21 January 2010, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman issued a cryptic statement that Gao Zhisheng was "where he should be," and said he did not know Gao Zhisheng's whereabouts at a later press conference.

On 28 March 2010 Gao Zhisheng was found to be living near Wutai Mountain.

Gao Zhisheng announced that over the previous year he had again been tortured, in ways that were even worse than before.

Gao Zhisheng's father-in-law said Gao Zhisheng arrived at his house in the company of four police officers, spent just one night there before being taken away by police.

Gao Zhisheng was released from jail on 7 August 2014 and was kept under house arrest.

Gao Zhisheng escaped from house arrest on 13 August 2017, spending around three weeks on the run before his recapture by the Chinese authorities the following month and remaining incommunicado for at least a year thereafter.

Missing for seven years, Gao Zhisheng is currently subject to enforced disappearance.