[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 123 (Thursday, September 13, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S6344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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   SENATE RESOLUTION 554--CALLING ON THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S 
REPUBLIC OF CHINA TO FACILITATE THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE 
                OF GAO ZHISHENG, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

  Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mr. Cornyn) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:

                              S. Res. 554

       Whereas Gao Zhisheng is a prominent Chinese human rights 
     lawyer known for representing religious minority groups, 
     factory workers, coal miners, and victims of government land 
     seizures;
       Whereas, in 2001, the Ministry of Justice of the People's 
     Republic of China listed Gao Zhisheng as one of the top ten 
     lawyers in China;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     arrested Gao Zhisheng on August 15, 2006, and prevented him 
     from meeting with chosen legal counsel;
       Whereas, on December 22, 2006, Gao Zhisheng was convicted 
     of inciting subversion and received a suspended sentence of 
     three years subject to five years of probation;
       Whereas, in September 2007, authorities in China 
     apprehended and detained Gao Zhisheng for 50 days;
       Whereas Gao Zhisheng claimed that during his detention, 
     government officials threatened his life and tortured him, 
     including beating him with electrified batons, urinating on 
     him, leaving him tied up for hours, and holding lighted 
     cigarettes close to his eyes and nose;
       Whereas the Government of the People's Republic of China 
     arrested and detained Gao Zhisheng again on February 4, 2009;
       Whereas Gao Zhisheng's whereabouts were unknown until March 
     2010, when he resurfaced, only to be arrested once more on 
     April 20, 2010;
       Whereas, on November 19, 2010, the United Nations Working 
     Group on Arbitrary Detention determined Gao Zhisheng's 
     ongoing detention to be arbitrary and in violation of 
     international law;
       Whereas Gao Zhisheng was held for 20 months before 
     officials in China informed his family in December 2011 that 
     he was being held at the Shaya County Prison in remote 
     Xinjiang, China;
       Whereas authorities allowed Gao Zhiyi to visit his brother, 
     Gao Zhisheng, in the Shaya County Prison for 30 minutes on 
     March 24, 2012, but then warned him not to speak to the media 
     or he would not be allowed to visit his brother again;
       Whereas the arbitrary arrest and detention of attorneys who 
     represent minority groups and human rights activists could 
     have a chilling effect on other attorneys working with 
     similar clients;
       Whereas Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil 
     and Political Rights, adopted at New York December 16, 1966, 
     to which the Government of the People's Republic of China is 
     a signatory, states, ``No one shall be subjected to arbitrary 
     arrest or detention.'';
       Whereas the International Covenant on Civil and Political 
     Rights also guarantees the right to freedom of expression;
       Whereas the wife of Gao Zhisheng, Geng He, and their two 
     children have been afforded protection as political asylees 
     in the United States;
       Whereas the United States Government has authorized Gao 
     Zhisheng to enter the United States, based on his family's 
     successful claim of political asylum; and
       Whereas the continued detention of Gao Zhisheng, with 
     limited or no access to family or legal counsel, by the 
     Government of the People's Republic of China is a source of 
     grave concern to the United States Senate: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate calls on the Government of the 
     People's Republic of China--
       (1) to immediately facilitate continued access to Gao 
     Zhisheng by his family and lawyers;
       (2) to facilitate the immediate and unconditional release 
     of Gao Zhisheng, including allowing Mr. Gao to leave China to 
     come to the United States to be reunited with his family, 
     should he wish to do so; and
       (3) to release all persons in China who have been 
     arbitrarily detained.

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