BEIJING — In his first interview in five years, leading Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng said he was tortured with an electric baton to his face and spent three years in solitary confinement during his latest period of detention since 2010.
The Nobel Peace Prize nominee also vowed never to leave China despite the hardships and having to live apart from his family.
For years, Gao’s supporters feared he might perish inside a remote Chinese prison. He survived his prison term. But when he was released in August 2014 from prison to house arrest, the formerly outspoken lawyer could barely walk or speak a full, intelligible sentence, raising concerns that one of the most inspirational figures in China’s rights movement had been permanently broken — physically and mentally.
He is now speaking out once again.
“Every time we emerge from the prison alive, it is a defeat for our opponents,” Gao said.
The 51-year-old attorney, who lives under near-constant guard in Shaanxi province, gained international recognition for his courage defending members of the outlawed spiritual movement Falun Gong and fighting for the land rights of farmers. In and out of detention since 2006, Gao upset authorities in 2010 by publicly denouncing the torture he said he had undergone.
He says he survived his latest detention thanks only to his faith in God and his unwavering hope for China. He also declared his decision not to go into exile outside China, even if that means being separated from his wife, daughter and son, who are living in the United States.
“I thought about giving up and giving my time to my family, but it’s the mission God has given me” to stay in China, Gao said.
Faxed questions to the Chinese ministries of public security, justice and foreign affairs regarding Gao’s allegations of torture and his current condition were not answered.
Gao said he is able to speak daily to his wife and children in California.
Relatives of Chinese dissidents met Wednesday with Secretary of State John Kerry as the Obama administration sought to demonstrate it won’t gloss over human rights during this week’s state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
But the message was in danger of backfiring because Gao’s wife refused the invitation.
“They haven’t talked to us in five years, for all the time we’ve been here, so why should we attend a meeting now?” Geng He said.
The United States has warned that the toughest crackdown in years on Chinese activists threatens to cloud the high-profile visit by Xi, who arrives in Washington on Thursday and will meet with President Barack Obama.
Yet the issue of human rights is unlikely to dominate the agenda at their Oval Office meeting Friday, which is followed by a state dinner.
Meanwhile, an American businesswoman arrested in China in March on claims she spied and stole state secrets is being held in solitary confinement and is interrogated at least once a day, her husband said Wednesday.
Jeff Gillis said his wife, Phan Phan-Gillis, 55, met earlier Wednesday with an American consulate official.
