Since January 2006, the many times imprisoned Gao Zhisheng was tortured over and over again while in custody. There has been no sign of life from the lawyer since his abduction in February 2009. The 45 year old lawyer was voted one of the ten best lawyers in the country by the Chinese Ministry of Justice in 2001. He has suffered ever increasing harassment from the authorities since his exit from the Communist Party in 2005 and the "Open Letter” to the government leaders in which he called for religious freedom and an end to the persecution of Falun Gong. His license as a lawyer was revoked in 2005 after his defence in court of many human rights workers and victims and in November 2005 his law office had to close for one year.

There have been recent signs that Gao Zisheng may have met with a violent death. A police officer who claims to have taken part in Gao's abduction told Gao's elder brother Zhiyi that Gao had "disappeared" while "out for a walk" on September 25th 2009. The Chinese authorities often use this form of words to indicate that someone has been killed while in detention.

Appeal to the German Foreign Minister Westerwelle and the current president of the Council of the European Union, the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Morations, to pressure the Chinese for an explanation in the case of Gao Zisheng.

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