Prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, missing for more than a year after being detained by police, has spoken to Western journalists.“I want to live a quiet life for a while,” said Mr Gao by telephone.
He said he was living near Wutai mountain, a Buddhist landmark in northern Shanxi province.
He told Reuters news agency he had been released six months ago. He was abducted by police from a relative’s house in February 2009.
Reuters said it had taken steps to verify Mr Gao’s identity.
Another human rights lawyer said he had spoken to Mr Gao on Sunday.
Gao Zhisheng, a self-taught lawyer, has not always been at odds with the people who run China. He was once a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
In 2001 he was acclaimed as one of the 10 best lawyers in the country by a publication run by the Ministry of Justice.
But he ran into trouble when he started to defend some of China’s most disadvantaged groups, such as supporters of the banned spiritual movement, Falun Gong.
Mr Gao’s law practice was closed down in 2005. The government said one problem was that the lawyer had failed to tell officials of a change of address.
The following year he was given a suspended prison sentence for “inciting subversion”.
He has previously said he had been tortured while in detention.