Gao Zhisheng, China's best known human rights attorney, disappeared 7 months ago. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) drew attention on Friday to the fate of this committed Protestant, called "the conscience of China" due to his efforts on behalf of persecuted Christians, Falun Gong followers, disenfranchised farmers and opponents of the state's one-child policy. "The fate of the human rights lawyer, abducted by Chinese officials, must be explained," demanded Ulrich Delius, head of the STP's Asia section. "The fact that he has not even been put on public trial, to avoid drawing the attention of the international community, is a cause for concern and proof of Gao Zhisheng's importance for the democracy movement in China," Delius pointed out.

The last time Gao Zhisheng's brother had any contact with the attorney the attorney, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008, was on April 20, 2010. In the phone call last April, Gao Zhisheng sounded extremely tense and said he was staying in a Buddhist meditation center on Wutai Mountain in the north of China, his brother reported. Since then there has been no sign of him. "We are very worried about his disappearance. We fear that he is being forcibly held by the Chinese security authorities," stated Delius. "It is a scandal that China's officials refuse to give any information." The brother, Gao Zhiyi, was not even able to file a missing persons report. When he tried in Peking in October 2010, the officers at the police station refused to take down the information.

This is not the first time that China's officials lied to the world about the fate of Gao Zhisheng. After he was kidnapped by Chinese security agents on February 4, 2009, he was missing without a trace for 400 days. For months government spokespersons claimed to know nothing of his whereabouts. They laconically stated that with a population of 1.3 billion, there was no way they could keep track of every individual. As the demands from other countries to release him increased, Zhisheng was permitted a telephone call on March 28, 2010. In an interview of April 7, 2010, obviously under pressure from officials, he announced that he would no longer work as a human rights lawyer. That was the last anyone has heard from him to date.

His legal practice was closed in November 2005 because of his commitment to human rights. He lost his license to practice as an attorney and was intimidated and placed under surveillance by security agents. In August 2006 he was arrested, tortured for days and sentence to three years in prison for "threatening national security." The penalty was deferred; he was put on probation and placed under house arrest.

For further Information, pleace contact Ulrich Delius (0049 - (0)551- 4990627)

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford