BEIJING — A crusading Chinese rights lawyer whose disappearance last year caused an international outcry said Wednesday that he is abandoning his once-prominent role as a government critic in hopes he’ll be allowed to reunite with his family.
In his first interview since he resurfaced two weeks ago, Gao Zhisheng said he did not wish to discuss his disappearance and whether he had been held or mistreated by authorities. He appeared thinner and more subdued than the stocky, pugnacious civil rights defender of the past. He said his health was fine.
Gao said the ordeal had taken a toll on him and his wife and two children, who secretly fled China early last year.
“I don’t have the capacity to persevere,” said Gao, 44. “On the one hand, it’s my past experiences. It’s also that these experiences greatly hurt my loved ones. This ultimate choice of mine, after a process of deep and careful thought, is to seek the goal of peace and calm.”
His eyes brimmed with tears when he discussed his family, especially when he described seeing their shoes when he returned home for the first time Tuesday. “These are the three dearest people in the world, and now, we’re like a kite with a broken string.”
Gao was a thorn in the government’s side. He advocated constitutional change and took on sensitive cases involving evangelical Christians and members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group. He was jailed, tortured and watched by police until he was taken away by public security personnel 14 months ago. Vague statements from the government as to his whereabouts drew protests by international human rights groups, the U.S. and British governments and the United Nations investigator.
Gao said meeting with the Associated Press was “a chat,” not an interview — which is banned under terms of a 2006 parole for a subversion conviction.
“You know that past life of mine was abnormal, and I need to give up that former life. … The main basis for choosing to give up is for the sake of family feelings,” Gao said. “I hope I can reunite with them. My children need me by their side growing up.”
Gao acknowledged that his seeming turnabout is sure to dishearten his backers and asked for their understanding. “To them, I apologize. I’m extremely sorry,” he said.
