Chinese activist 'utterly destroyed' after three years of imprisonment, says Lawyer

Prominent Chinese lawyer and activist, Gao Zhisheng's counsel has reportedly said that three years of imprisonment has 'utterly destroyed' him.

Zhisheng's international lawyer, Jared Gensher, said that he was unintelligible and had lost teeth due to malnutrition after the Chinese activist was released from prison in Xinjiang province last week, reported the BBC.

The 50-year-old Chinese is a prominent human rights lawyer who has been detained several times in the past by the Chinese government for defending the rights of minorities and activists and for criticizing the ruling Communist Party of China openly.

A United States-based advocacy group, Freedom Now said in a report that Zhisheng was tortured psychologically and physically and had lost almost 20 kg in weight because of his daily ration of cabbage and a slice of bread. He was also confined to a dark, cramped cell and was denied any human contact until his release.

Zhisheng's wife, Geng He, said that her husband had been devastated by what the Chinese government had done to him and urged the authorities to allow him to seek treatment in the U.S.

The activist was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his work in 2008.