高智晟被安排接受美联社独访 容貌大变表情迟滞(组图)

2010-04-08 13:15

高智晟律師受迫害前照片

中国维权律师高智晟六日在失踪一年之后首度会见媒体、接受美联社独家专访时表示，过去的作为让他与家人付出代价，往后他不会再高调批评政府，希望有朝一日能与家人团聚；不过高智晟并未多谈过去一年的行踪，面对许多疑问也都避重就轻地带过，让人引发他是否已恢复自由身、是否仍在警方魔掌监控之下的疑虑。

高智晟2006年被中共当局以煽动颠覆国家政权罪判刑三年，缓刑五年，去年二月遭警方带走之后一直下落不明。两周前，失踪多时的高智晟突然现身、与亲友通电话，六日更首度面对媒体，接受美联社专访。许久不见的高智晟再露面显得消瘦许多、也较以往沉默，与过去短小精干的模样相去甚远。受访时他不愿多谈失踪期间的去处、是否遭当局拘留或虐待，仅表示过去的事让他与妻子还有两个小孩付出代价。

四十四岁的高智晟在北京住家附近的茶馆受访时表示：“我没有坚持下去的能力，一方面，这是我过去的经验，而也是因为这些经验，深深地伤害了我所爱的人，经过深思熟虑，我最后的决定是，我只想追求平静。”

高智晟说到家人时，眼眶数度泛泪，特别是提到六日他首度返家、看到亲人的鞋子时，眼泪更几乎要夺眶而出：“我完全控制不了情绪，因为对我来说，他们是我在世界上最爱的三个人，而现在，我们就像断线的风筝一样。”

高智晟表示，他与美联社是“闲聊”而非访问（2006年他获得假释的条件之一就是不得接受访问），“闲聊”中他也暗示了与当局妥协，希望能以放弃异议活动，来换取与家人联系、最后终能团圆的目标。

高智晟表示，“你知道我过去的生活不正常，我需要放弃之前的生活，我希望我能成为这个大家庭和平生活的一部分”；“你知道，选择放弃，主要就是为了家人的感觉，我希望能与他们团圆，我的孩子需要我在他们身边，陪着他们长大。”

高智晟说，他这样有点像是思想背叛，一定会让很多支持者伤心，他也恳求他们的谅解，“每个人都会失望，有些人真的参与其中、关心、支持、诉求，所以他们听到我说的话，他们绝对会失望。对于他们，我致上歉意，我抱歉极了。”

这段长一个多小时的访问，部分目的似乎是要化解外界在高智晟失踪后，对其健康与精神状况的疑虑，但他不愿意提及过去，以及对于许多提问都闪烁其词的回答，也不禁让人怀疑他是否已恢复自由之身、是否还遭到警方监控。

活跃于人权运动的高智晟，过去十年一直是当局的眼中钉、肉中刺。他倡议宪法改革，还参与基督教与法轮功等敏感案件，多次被捕、遭刑求与监控之后，十四个月前突然失踪，而中共政府对其失踪一事的模糊回应，还曾引发国际人权组织与英美政府抗议。

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中国维权律师高智晟4月6日在失踪一年之后首度见媒体、接受美联社独家专访时表示，过去的作为让他与家人付出代价，往后他不会再高调批评政府，希望有朝 1日能与家人团聚。不过高智晟并未多谈过去一年的行踪，面对许多疑问也都避重就轻地带过，让人引发他是否已恢复自由身、是否仍在警方魔掌监控之下的疑虑。

高智晟2006年被中共当局以煽动颠覆国家政权罪判刑三年，缓刑五年，去年2月遭警方带走之后一直下落不明。两周前，失踪多时的高智晟突然现身、与亲友通电话，6日更首度面对媒体，接受美联社专访。许久不见的高智晟再露面显得消瘦许多，也较以往沉默，与过去短小精干的模样相去甚远。受访时他不愿多谈失踪期间的去处，以及是否遭当局拘留或虐待，仅表示过去的事让他与妻子还有两个小孩付出代价。

他说，他的痛苦经历对自己以及妻子和两名子女造成了伤害。他的妻小去年初秘密离开了中国，以避免公安不停地骚扰。

高智晟在北京北区住家附近的一个茶馆内坐得笔直，他告诉美联社记者，“我没有坚持的能耐，一方面是因为我过去的经历，再方面也是因为这番经历严重伤害了我所爱的人。经过深入和谨慎思考后，我的最后选择是追求平静的目标”。

他在谈到家人时，眼中数度含泪，尤其是在他形容6日首次返家并看到家人鞋子的情景时。

他说：“我完全丧失了情绪控制，因为对我来说，这是我在世上最爱的3个人，但现在我们像是断了线的风筝。”

高智晟说，他这样有点像是思想背叛，一定会让很多支持者伤心。他也恳求他们的谅解：“每个人都会失望，有些人真的参与其中、关心、支持、诉求，所以他们听到我说的话，他们绝对会失望。对于他们，我致上歉意，我抱歉极了。”

这段长一个多小时的访问，部分目的似乎是要化解外界在高智晟失踪后，对其健康与精神状况的疑虑。但他不愿意提及过去，以及对于许多提问都闪烁其词的回答，也不禁让人怀疑他是否已恢复自由之身、是否还遭到警方监控。大纪元

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美联社原报道：
Crusading Chinese lawyer gives up activism

By CHARLES HUTZLER and ISOLDA MORILLO (AP) – 13 hours ago

BEIJING — A crusading Chinese rights lawyer whose disappearance more than a year ago 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 an exclusive interview, his first since he resurfaced two weeks ago, Gao Zhisheng said he did not wish to discuss his disappearance and whether he had been held and mistreated by the authorities. He appeared thinner and more subdued than the stocky, pugnacious civil rights defender of the past, though he said his health was fine.

Nevertheless, Gao said, the ordeal had taken a toll on him and his wife and two children, who secretly fled China early last year to escape relentless harassment by police.

"I don't have the capacity to persevere. 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," Gao, sitting straight-backed, told The Associated Press at a tea house near his apartment in northern Beijing.

His eyes brimmed with tears several times when he discussed his family, especially when he described seeing their shoes when he returned home for the first time Tuesday.

"I completely lost control of my emotions, because to me these are the three dearest people in the world and now, we're like a kite with a broken string," he said.

Among the most dauntless of a group of human rights lawyers, Gao was a thorn in the authoritarian government's side for much of the past decade. He advocated constitutional reform 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 went missing 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 U.N.'s torture investigator.

The more than hourlong meeting seemed partly intended to dispel concerns over the 44-year-old Gao's health and state of mind since he disappeared in February 2009. He showed flashes of his previously defiant self, mixing praise for the government's building of the economy while calling for democracy.

But his desire not to talk about the past and his often roundabout answers raised questions about the current conditions of his freedom and whether he is still under police surveillance.

Gao said his meeting with the AP was "a chat," not an interview — which is forbidden under terms of a 2006 parole for a subversion conviction. He hinted at a compromise with authorities, a relinquishing of his past activism in exchange for contact with his family and perhaps one day a reunion.

"You know that past life of mine was abnormal, and I need to give up that former life. I hope I can become part of the peaceful life of the big family," Gao said.

He later added: "You know the main basis for choosing to give up is for the sake of family feelings," he said. "I hope I can reunite with them. My children need me by their side growing up."

Gao's sudden resurfacing March 18 added to the confusion about him. For a few days, he spoke with friends, family and the media by mobile phone, saying he was at Mount Wutai, a well-known Buddhist retreat, and wanted to be left alone. That explanation was so out of character for the normally garrulous Gao that it brought speculation from friends and supporters that he was being pressured by the authorities.

Gao acknowledged that his seeming turnabout is sure to dishearten his backers and asked for their understanding. "Everybody will be disappointed. Some people were really involved, concerned, supportive, making appeals. So when they read my words they will definitely feel disappointed. To them, I apologize. I'm extremely sorry," he said.

His previous imprisonment and run-ins with police — including a time in 2007 when security forces gave him electric shocks to his genitals and placed cigarettes in his eyes — helped him survive the last 14 months.

"I have a special characteristic and that's no matter the circumstances I can control my feelings or my emotions," said Gao. "It's like a mechanical function, and I don't allow it to move and turn. I just exist as a material thing."

Despite his retreat from the front lines, Gao said he was inspired by the Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, though in her years in jail and under house arrest her family knew where she was, unlike him. Even without his forceful presence, he expected a new crop of rights lawyers to push ahead promoting legal rights and democracy, undeterred by his troubles.

"Just because of the repression I experienced, don't think that other people won't do what I did. That's not human nature," Gao said. "If there's one more of me or one less of me in the field, it doesn't matter. These years we've heard that a lot of others are eager to try. I still want to talk with them and hope they can learn a lesson from me."