【大纪元7月3日讯】中国维权律师关注组恭贺北京维权律师高智晟荣获美国出庭律师委员会(American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA))的“勇敢提倡者奖”(Courageous Advocacy Award)。
据美国出庭律师委员会6月30日的新闻稿，该会于当日晚上在南加州圣塔芭芭拉举行全美理事会年会 (2007 National Board of Directors Meeting)，会长斯佛德（Lewis Sifford）在会上宣布将“勇敢提倡者奖”授予高智晟律师。
高律师在今年5月份接到获奖通知书后，一直争取到美国领奖，并想借此机会与美国律师同业交流对宪政和法治的看法，但最终却未能成行，并于6月24日再被抓和被带离北京。据悉，美国出庭律师委员会曾致信国家主席胡锦涛，希望能帮助高律师到美国领奖，但中国政府一直没有回复，亦不准许高律师到美国领奖。
中国维权律师关注组对中国政府阻止高律师到美国领奖，表示极度失望。高律师长期为弱势社群提供法律维权帮助，他因于2005年三次发表公开信致国家主席胡锦涛、总理温家宝，要求中央停止迫害法轮功人士，但他却于去年12月被控以“煽动颠覆国家罪”，并被判监三年，缓刑五年，其后一直被监视、殴打和无理非法拘禁。他得到拥有超过6,300名资深法官及出庭律师为会员的美国出庭律师委员会的肯定，对国内其他维权律师能产生鼓舞作用，鼓励更多律师参与维护弱势社群的工作。
本会要求中国政府停上打压高律师及其他维权律师，切实执行法治，尊重律师的公民权利。
中国维权律师关注组
2007年7月3日
参考资料：
美国出庭律师委员会 (American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA)) 的英文新闻稿，请看：http://www.abota.org/news/default.asp?NewsID=35
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CHRLCG congratulates Beijing Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng for being granted the Courageous Advocacy Award by ABOTA
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group would like to congratulate Beijing human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟) for being granted the prestigious “Courageous Advocacy Award” by the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA).
According to ABOTA’s press release on 30 June, during the organisation’s 2007 National Board of Directors Meeting on that evening, ABOTA president Lewis Sifford announced to grant the award to Lawyer Gao.
When Lawyer Gao received the letter in May about being granted the award, he has tried every means to try to fly to the United States to receive the award by himself and to share his views about constitutionalism and the rule of law with US lawyers and judges. But he was not allowed to go and he was taken away from his Beijing home to an unknown place on June 24. According to media reports, the American Board of Trial Advocates had written a letter to President Hu Jintao asking him to help Lawyer Gao to go to the United States to receive the award, but the Chinese government did not reply.
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group is deeply disappointed that the Chinese government did not allow Lawyer Gao to go to the United States to receive the award. Lawyer Gao has long been fighting for the rights of the vulnerable groups by providing them with legal assistance. He wrote three open letters to President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in 2005 to demand the central government to stop persecuting Falun Gong members, but he was charged with “inducing subversion to state powers” and was sentenced to three years imprisonment, suspended for five years, in December last year. He has since been under severe surveillance, beaten up and unreasonably illegally detained. He was granted the award by the American Board of Trial Advocates because his human rights works are recognized by the organisation, which has more than 6,300 members who are experienced judges and trial lawyers. The award is a big encouragement to other human rights lawyers in China. It will encourage more lawyers in China to take up more cases to help the vulnerable groups.
Taking this opportunity, China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group demand the Chinese government to stop persecuting human rights lawyers in China and seriously implement the rule of law and respect the rights of lawyers.
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group
July 3, 2007
Reference:
Press release of the American Board of Trial Advocates: http://www.abota.org/news/default.asp?NewsID=35
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中国维权律师关注组
香港中环德辅道中20号德成大厦九字楼901至902室
电话：28682919 传真：28682797, 28770561
电邮：info@chrlcg-hk.org, 网页：www.chrlcg-hk.org
China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group
Rooms 901-2, 9/F, Takshing House, 20 Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong.
Tel: (852) 2868 2919, Fax: (852) 2868 2797, 2877 0561
Email: info@chrlcg-hk.org, Website: www.chrlcg-hk.org(http://www.dajiyuan.com)
