A/HRC/4/58 page 6 9. China. On 21 December 2005, the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders, sent a letter of allegation to the Government of China regarding Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer from Beijing. Gao Zhisheng had been the subject of a previous communication by Special Rapporteurs. On 2 December 2005, his law firm, the Shenghzhi Law Firm, was ordered by the Beijing Justice Bureau, to cease operations from 30 November 2005 to 29 November 2006. The authorities ruled that the firm improperly changed its registration when it moved office in June 2005, in contravention of article 9 (2) of the Lawyers Law. The authorities also ruled that the firm had violated article 47 of the Lawyers Law, as it had failed to use the firm’s formal letterhead when it issued a letter of introduction for two of its lawyers to visit a client detained in Guangzhou Panyu Police Detention Centre. Accordingly, Mr. Gao was required to hand over the firm’s licence, official stamps, financial records, and licences of its lawyers to the authorities before 29 December, or face further penalties. 10. The Special Rapporteurs expressed their concerns at the fact that Mr. Gao may have been targeted for his human rights protection activities, especially after he met with the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture during his mission to China in November 2005. 11. Georgia. On 29 June 2006, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders sent a letter of allegation to the Government of Georgia relating to the office of the Public Movement “Multinational Georgia” (PMMG), a non-profit non-governmental organization which promotes the human rights of minorities and develops their integration into Georgian society. On 7 June 2006, the PMMG office in Tbilisi was broken into and raided by unknown persons. Computer hard disks, which contained many of the working documents of the organization, were stolen. Specifically, the draft of an alternative report on the implementation of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, to be addressed to the United Nations and the Council of Europe, as well as documentation and analytical materials pertaining to the situation of minorities in Georgia, were stolen. All valuable equipment was reportedly left untouched. According to the information received, during the two-week lead-up to this break-in, representatives of the State contacted several staff members of PMMG requesting various documents, including the report that had to be addressed to the Council of Europe. PMMG and its partner organization refused to give the documents. Subsequently, both organizations were told by the official representatives that “(they) would get it anyway”. Furthermore, in March 2006, many documents were stolen from the cars of Arnold Stepanian, head of the organization, and of his press secretary in front of the organization’s office. They contained many working documents. Concerns were expressed that these robberies might be an attempt by the State to obstruct and prevent PMMG from carrying out its human rights activities and interact with the United Nations and the Council of Europe. 12. In a letter dated 9 October 2006, the Government of Georgia responded to the above communication. According to the Government, the Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi District Prosecutor’s office initiated an investigation into the robbery of the non-governmental organization Public Movement “Multinational Georgia”. Relevant investigative activities have been carried out. Arnold Stephanian, the head of PMMG, was questioned and granted the status of an injured person on 8 June 2006. According to the testimony given by Mr. Stephanian, a computer disk containing valuable information and working documents was stolen along with other equipment.