A crusading Chinese lawyer missing for a year says he is giving up activism for his family

Crusading Chinese lawyer to give up activism

BEIJING — A crusading Chinese rights lawyer who disappeared more than a year ago says he is abandoning his once prominent role as a government critic in hopes of reuniting with his family.

In his first meeting with the media since he resurfaced two weeks ago, Gao Zhisheng said Wednesday he did not want to discuss his disappearance. He appeared thinner and more subdued than in the past.

But he says the ordeal took a toll on him and his wife and two children, who secretly fled China early last year to escape police harassment.

Gao was a dauntless campaigner for human rights. In the past he has been jailed and tortured and his disappearance 14 months ago brought protests from the U.S. government and the U.N.’s torture investigator.