Nine Years! August 2017–August 2026: Renowned Human Rights Lawyer Mr. Gao Zhisheng Has Been forcibly disappeared for a Full Nine Years! This Website Strongly Demands That the Chinese Communist Authorities Immediately Return Gao Zhisheng His Freedom and Strongly Calls on the Governments of All Democratic Countries and the International Community to Act for Mr. Gao Zhisheng’s Freedom

(The Rights Defense Network Information Center reports) On August 13, 2026, this website learned that Mr. Gao Zhisheng, a renowned human rights lawyer who was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese Communist authorities in August 2017, has remained completely unheard from for a full nine years, with his life or death unknown.

In recent years, human rights defenders around the world have also repeatedly launched coordinated global actions to search for lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who was forcibly disappeared. The Rights Defense Network once again strongly calls on the governments of all democratic countries and the international community to act for Mr. Gao Zhisheng’s freedom today.

Lawyer Gao Zhisheng is a renowned human rights lawyer in mainland China, known for his integrity and unyielding character. Having endured brutal torture without yielding, lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been forcibly disappeared for nine years. To this day, the Chinese Communist authorities have provided neither any legal procedure nor any explanation, and his circumstances and safety have caused deep concern among people in China and abroad. Human rights activists around the world are asked to continue acting together for lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s freedom.

Gao Zhisheng: Born on April 20, 1964, in Jiaxian County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province; a renowned rights lawyer, he was once selected by China’s Ministry of Justice as one of the “Top Ten Lawyers in China,” and was known as the “Conscience of China,” a dissident and a Chinese prisoner of conscience.

Beginning in 1996, he started representing disadvantaged groups in rights-protection lawsuits and handled numerous civil rights cases; beginning at the end of 2004, he repeatedly submitted letters to senior Chinese Communist authorities, demanding a change in the illegal methods used to handle groups including Falun Gong, and participated in investigations into allegations that the authorities were forcibly harvesting organs from Falun Gong practitioners; in November 2005, he and his wife publicly announced their withdrawal from the Chinese Communist Party; because he had the courage to defend clients in cases deemed sensitive by the authorities (note: including people with Falun Gong beliefs, Christians, as well as ordinary farmers and private entrepreneurs involved in disputes with officials), he was repeatedly subjected to severe harassment and retaliatory attacks by the Chinese Communist authorities using gangster-like methods;

In August 2006, his law license was revoked by the authorities, and he was secretly abducted and subjected to nearly four months of torture; on December 22, 2006, he was sentenced by the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court to three years in prison, suspended for five years, on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power”; on February 4, 2009, he suddenly lost contact with others, and was not released and returned to Beijing until April 2010; afterward, after he gave an interview to the Associated Press, he again lost contact with others; it was not until December 16, 2011, that his family learned from a Xinhua News Agency report that he had been detained and arrested by a Beijing court and made to serve the remaining two years and seven months of his sentence;

On August 7, 2014, he was released after completing his sentence, but after his release he remained under house arrest at his family home in Yulin, northern Shaanxi. Because he had been subjected to prolonged torture and inhumane treatment in solitary confinement while in prison, his teeth had fallen out and his health was poor. He requested dental treatment and medical care, but was continually refused. In June 2016, because he had secretly written the book 2017: Rise Up, China, which was formally printed and sold in Taiwan, and because the book mainly dealt with three major subjects—the Chinese Communist authorities’ long-term abduction, imprisonment and torture of him; his belief-based view that the Chinese Communist Party would perish in 2017; and his outlook for China’s future constitutional democratization after 2017—the Chinese Communist authorities became extremely fearful and angry, and tightened their surveillance of him further.

On August 13, 2017, with the help of Shanxi rights activists Li Fawang, Shao Zhongguo and others, Gao Zhisheng fled his home in Shaanxi for Shanxi to hide and prepare to see a dentist, but on August 19 he was tracked down and taken away by police. Since then, Gao Zhisheng has had no contact with anyone, while the authorities in Beijing, Shaanxi and Shanxi have all denied detaining him.

A full nine years have now passed since lawyer Gao Zhisheng was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese Communist authorities in August 2017. The Chinese Communist authorities have neither tried nor sentenced Gao Zhisheng, have provided no response or explanation to his relatives’ inquiries, and have completely ignored the international community’s concern and protests. The Chinese Communist authorities’ human rights violations against lawyer Gao Zhisheng have reached the point of being arbitrary and deranged. At present, the location where Gao Zhisheng is being secretly held is unknown, and his life or death is unknown.

This website will continue to follow lawyer Gao Zhisheng’s circumstances.