A/HRC/7/3/Add.1 page 69 Para 54. Country Date Type Mandate Allegations transmitted Zhang Hongwei (A/HRC/4/33/Add.1, para. 45). Government response judgment has since become enforceable. In the course of the proceedings against Gao on the charge of incitement to subversion of the authority of the State, the public security authorities fully upheld his rights in litigation and those of his family and conducted the proceedings in strict compliance with the law, applying the law in a civilized manner. Three days before proceedings opened in this case, the court of first instance, in accordance with the stipulation of the law, notified the procurator’s office and the defence counsel and published in advance the dates and venue of the trial. When the court rendered its judgment, Gao’s family were present in the public gallery. When serving papers on Gao, the court expressly informed him of his rights in litigation to appoint a lawyer to conduct his defence. Gao indicated that, as he was himself a lawyer, he did not need to assign a lawyer and he did not agree to his family appoint one for him. For that reason, the lawyers from the Mo Shaoping law firm, appointed by his brother, were unable to act in his defence. Under these circumstances, the court decided, in order to ensure Gao’s rights in litigation were fully upheld, that it should appoint two lawyers to defend him, and Gao agreed to this appointment. In the course of the trial, in addition to conducting his own defence, Gao also received full defence services from his defence lawyers. The allegations that the police harassed Gao’s family members and others are unfounded. By letter dated 26/02/07, the Government informed that on 20 January 2001, Mr. Zhang was