【大紀元1月1日訊】中國最著名和勇敢的律師高智晟最近被中共政權以『顛覆國家政權罪』判處有期徒刑三年，緩刑五年，剝奪政治權利一年。
從控訴的嚴重性來看，這一判決看來是一個輕判。特別是當我們和八九民主運動被判刑的70人，33個西藏人，40個網絡記者和國際上普遍承認的最少有133宗教人士的判刑進行比較來看，這是一個輕判。那些人可能當參加2008年奧運會的人離開北京時仍會被關在監獄裡。
自從胡錦濤和溫家寶2003年上台後，人權在中國受到普遍的打壓。只有很少的一部分律師能夠幫助民眾代理那些因為腐敗、失地和其他濫用公眾誠信的反對政府和黨政官員的訴訟。
在高律師的案件中，就像在沒有通知他的辯護律師和家人而由黨組織來決定的秘密審判和主持審判的『法官』來宣布一樣，我們可以從三個方面來解釋表面上看起來的『仁慈的』判決：
首先，自從高律師在8月中旬被抓捕以來，國際社會施加了巨大的壓力，媒體也進行了廣泛的報導。世界上的很多人說把一個象曼德拉和甘地一樣的律師關押到監獄中將嚴重影響北京的奧運會的舉辦。所謂的『專家』說的公開的國際性遊說來釋放高律師會有副作用的說法被證明是錯的。
其次，判決的本質清楚的說明中共政權在2008年8月8號召開的奧運會之前將一把達摩克利斯利劍懸在高律師的頭上。如果高律師敢於繼續反對集權政府和『吃人的資本主義』官員們將把他仍到監獄裡，並聲稱他違反了緩刑期的「政治權利」的這一條件。
輕判的原因應該和高律師給胡錦濤寫了三封公開信，信中提到了宗教自由、獨立司法、民主和法律而導致他的律師執業證在2005年被吊銷，或是他的妻子耿和及他的兩個年幼的孩子被國安人員持續跟蹤、騷擾和恐嚇，或是他的十三歲的女兒耿格被六個警察毆打沒有多大關係。
最重要的原因是由於高智晟律師的獨特的特點使得當局要小心對待。在中國以外高律師已經變得很出名，尤其最近要提名他做2007年的諾貝爾和平獎候選人。
高智晟，42歲，出生於中國西北部的一個窯洞，他貧窮的家庭一直居住在那裏。最開始作為一個搬運工人，15歲那年成為一個井下的煤礦工人。後來參軍，在軍隊中遇到了現在的妻子。然後完成高中教育，之後成為中共黨員。退伍後，他以街頭賣菜維生。並自學取得學歷並成為律師。在1994年自學成材通過律師考試的比例是百分之一，他是其中的一員。
濫用職權的受害人不久在他的辦公室中排隊等待辯護，他開始在中國的聲名狼藉的司法體系中贏得各種官司。到2001年，在國家級電視競賽中司法部指定他為十大傑出律師。但是在四年後，當他變成這個政權的攻擊目標後他被取消了這一稱號。
他為失地農民、基督徒辯護，他同樣為中共政權明令禁止任何律師代理的法輪功學員辯護。去年夏天，高律師曾經給我和麥塔斯寫信，邀請我們到中國去調查法輪功學員被活摘器官的事件。在渥太華的中領館沒有給我們簽證，之後不久高律師就被監禁。
他寫給胡錦濤的三封公開信抗議大範圍的虐待、酷刑和謀殺。這三封信使得他的律師事務所被政府關閉。不久他和他的家人被成群的警察跟蹤。作為特殊的回應，他把他發起的絕食抗暴的活動張貼到他的網站上，並公開退出中共，成為一名基督徒。
儘管這個判決看起來比較仁慈，但是由於限制了他的言論自由這個判決是非常不適當的。這個判決應該被撤銷，並恢復高律師的執業權利。對我們所有這些中國以外的人們，中國政府在贏得奧運會舉辦是承諾保障人權。但是它至今沒有做到，對高律師和他的家人的對待將成為從現在開始到2008年夏天的一個最後的檢驗。
大衛.喬高是加拿大前亞太司司長，18種語言的麥塔斯－喬高報告可以在organharvestinvestigation.net上瀏覽。
附﹕英文原文
==================
Beijing Olympics and the 『Lenient』Sentence for Gao Zhisheng
By David Kilgour
China’s probably best-known and one of its most courageous lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, was recently convicted of 「inciting subversion」 and given a three-year prison sentence. His removal to custody, however, was suspended for five years; his 『political rights』 were removed for a year by the Beijing court.
Given the serious nature of the charge, the sentence at first glance appears light, especially given that 70 individuals sentenced from the democracy movement of Tiananmen Square in 1989, 33 Tibetans, 40 internet journalists and an internationally-accepted absolute minimum of 133 religious prisoners will probably still be in prison after the Olympic athletes have left Beijing in 2008.
There has also been a general crackdown on human rights across China since the government of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao took power in 2003. This has hit the tiny minority of lawyers brave enough to represent citizens with complaints against government and Party officials about corruption, farmland seizures and numerous other abuses of the public trust.
In Gao’s case, probably three factors explain the seemingly lenient sentence, which, like the verdict in the closed-door trial, was done without his lawyer of choice or family even being informed beforehand, determined by a party committee and merely announced by the presiding 『judge』.
First, there has been considerable international pressure and media coverage since Gao was arrested in mid-August. Many across the world said that sending a Nelson Mandela/Mahatma Gandhi-like lawyer to prison would have a seriously negative impact on the Beijing Games. The 「experts」 who said that that public lobbying internationally for leniency would achieve the opposite were proven dramatically wrong.
Second, the nature of the sentence was clearly intended to position a Damoclean sword over Gao’s head during the government’s charm offensive to the world before the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which are to begin on August 8th 2008. If he speaks out against continuing totalitarian misgovernance and 『carnivore capitalism』, officials can dispatch him to the silence of prison, claiming that he has violated the 『political rights』 condition of his suspended sentence.
It matters little to Party leaders that Gao』s permit to practise law was revoked in 2005 because he wrote letters to President Hu about the need for religious freedom, independent judges, democracy and the rule of law; or that his wife, GengHe, and two young children have since been constantly followed, harassed and intimidated by public security personnel; or that their 13-year-old daughter, Gege, was recently beaten by six police.
The most important reason for the seeming caution exercised by the regime in this case probably stems from the unique character of Gao Zhisheng, who is becoming increasingly known outside China and has recently become the focus of a multinational movement to nominate him for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Gao, 42, was born in the hillside cave in which his desperately poor family lived in northwestern China. Starting as a migrant worker and then going underground as a coal miner at the age of 15, he later joined the People’s Liberation Army, where he met his future wife, obtained a secondary education and became a member of the Communist party. On discharge, he became a street vendor, but also studied to become a lawyer, and was among the only one percent of the self-trained candidates who passed the bar exam in 1994.
Victims of official abuse were soon lining up at his office and he began to win cases against all odds in China’s notorious court system. By 2001, the Ministry of Justice named him one of ten 「honour lawyers」 in a national television competition, although it rescinded the title four years later when he became a target of the regime.
His defense of farmers losing their land and Christians was serious enough, but doing the same for Falun Gong practitioners, when the regime had banned any lawyer from even representing them, was completely intolerable. It was Gao who wrote to David Matas and me last summer, inviting us to come to China to investigate the stealing of vital organs from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. No visa was subsequently issued by its embassy in Ottawa to do so; he was detained not long afterwards.
His three open letters to President Hu, protesting a range of abuses, including specific cases of torture and murder, caused his law office to be closed by the government. Throngs of police soon began to follow him and his family day and night. In a characteristic response, he posted the details of this campaign on his website, resigned from the Party and later became a publicly-declared Christian.
Although seemingly lenient, the sentence is thus wildly inappropriate as an undue restraint on freedom of speech and should be lifted completely as well as restoring his right to practise his profession. The issue for all of us outside China is whether the commitment of the government of China to improve human rights, given in its bid to win the Games, is to have any substance. It has certainly had none to date. The treatment afforded to Gao and his family between now and the summer of 2008 will provide one good litmus test.
David kilgour is a former Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific) of Canada. The Matas-Kilgour report can be accessed in 18 languages at organharvestinvestigation.net.
(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
