Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer back home after detainment

Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer back home after detainment

BEIJING (Kyodo) — Christian human rights group China Aid, which reported this week that prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng had been picked up by the authorities, said it has learned he is now back home.

Gao, 51, asked China Aid’s president to “thank everyone who cares” about him, the group said Friday on its website, adding that Gao is still denied freedom of movement and access to medical care or even a shower.

It said details surrounding his situation remain unclear at the moment.

In August 2014, Gao was released after spending three years in jail for “inciting subversion of state power.”

Before his arrest, Gao was best known for his efforts on behalf of clients whose cases were considered controversial by the Chinese government, including members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement and underground Christians, as well as Chinese citizens who opposed government efforts to seize their land or target their business concerns.

According to the Associated Press, which on Thursday published an interview with him conducted earlier this year while he was under tight surveillance in central China’s Shaanxi Province, Gao said he was tortured with an electric baton to his face and spent the three years of his imprisonment in solitary confinement.

Some China observers wondered whether the interview played a role in him being picked up again by the public security bureau.

Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer back home after detainment