30 March 2011
Geng He, the wife of Chinese dissident Gao Zhisheng participates in a press conference
BEIJING — Beijing on Tuesday dismissed calls by a United Nations human rights agency to free prominent rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, saying the body should respect China's judicial sovereignty.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention demanded China release Gao, alleging his incarceration breached numerous UN conventions and China's own law, according to a statement released by advocacy group Freedom Now.
"The Working Group requests the Government (of China) to proceed to an immediate release of Mr Zhisheng Gao and provide for reparation of the harm caused as a result of his situation," the statement said.
Written in the form of a judicial opinion, the statement, which Freedom Now said was given to them on Monday also called on the China "to bring the practice in the matter of arrests, detention and trials in conformity with international law."
But China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu on Tuesday maintained she was unaware of the "specifics" of the case.
"We attach importance to cooperation with the UN human rights' monitoring mechanism and urge the mechanism to respect China's judicial sovereignty," Jiang told reporters. "China is a country under the rule of law."
Gao, who the Working Group called a "a brilliant lawyer known for the defence of human rights", was arrested in February 2009 and has been held incommunicado by the authorities.
Geo briefly reappeared in March last year when he was apparently released by police, speaking with a few friends and colleagues, many of whom reported that he continued to be tailed by authorities and was in ill-health.
Soon afterwards, he disappeared again and has not been heard from since.
The UN statement said police and judicial authorities have refused to issue an arrest warrant, name the charges against Gao, publicly acknowledge he is in custody or tell his family why he has been detained.
It also noted Gao was subject to torture and numerous beatings while in police custody before February 2009.
The statement added that the Chinese government had refused to provide the UN body with information on Gao's case.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, made up of human rights experts, investigate cases of arbitrary arrest and detention around the world.
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