three years ago, we set up the free gao zhisheng website, called freegao.com, to draw the attention to gao's plight and to launch a worldwide petition on his behalf. and so far, we have collected over 150,000 real-name signatures from 196 countries. and i printed -- we printed out the signatures today, and we want to give to cecc as a record. these names, these voices, these people spoke up. from sudan to afghanistan, from south africa to norway, from china to america, 150,000 people of conscience coming from various faiths, backgrounds, political systems and family backgrounds of different occupations and of all ages have signed this petition. for more than three years, we have been looking night and day for gao zhisheng. we have never stopped asking, where is gao zhisheng? how is he doing? i, myself, have traveled all over the united states and to europe many times calling for gao's release. unfortunately, the situation is getting worse. we don't even have a way of confirming that gao zhisheng is still alive today. our fears grow with each passing day. so, we earnestly hope that the

she and gao zhisheng made in august of 1990. in 2006 she worked as a pa paralegal and accountant at a beijing law firm founded by her husband. in july 2009, a month after chinese officials reportedly detained her husband, geng left china with her children and since being in the u.s., she has advocated tenaciously for her husband, by interviews and today by testifying. but she has been just everywhere speaking out for her persecuted husband. we will then hear from li jing, wife of human rights and democracy advocate kwo kwan. she and democracy advocate married in 1999. she worked for "modern express" newspaper for five years. li also worked in import and export businesses. she arrived in the united states in january of this year, 2012, and has publicly advocated on her husband's behalf. kwo is currently serving a ten-year sentence for subversion of powers after a court found he used the internet to organize an illegal political party and publish allegedly reactionary statements online. we'll then hear from jared genser, founder o

there is a lot of support for gao zhisheng. but i want to underscore that her children live in the united states now. they have protection from the united states. this gives this case in particular a special connection to our country. we have given them asylum status and gao himself has residual status based on family status. if we can reappear him and he is willing to go, he can be free and live his with his family. we need the united states to recognize the special responsibility that we have taken on, to our great credit, as a country, to gao zhisheng and his family and raise the case on the highest levels. the last thing i would just n e note, my biggest fear about the president and vice president or secretary of state not meeting him and his wife is not exclusively about the optics of that meeting taking place and the message it would send to the chinese government. although that is very important. my biggest fear is that the chinese government repeatedly and publicly lied about what is going on and the united states and o

an expert witness will demonstrate the official case against gao zhisheng as not only ripe with villainy, but also beleft of any semblance of humanity. an account of mr. gao's torture made public by the "associated press" in january of 2011, mr. gao disclosed to that reporter the excruciating details of his detention. "the police stripped gao zhisheng bare and pummeled him with handguns and holsters. for two days and nights, they took turns beating him and did things he refused to describe." he recalled "for 48 hours, my life hung by a thread." authorities reportedly threatened to dump his body in a river and taunted him by saying "you must forget you're human." to the vice president of china, we will not forget. we do not know if mr. gao is alive or dead. in solidarity, mr. gao and his family and his lovely wife, who is here today, we know that we will honor mr. gao's accomplishments, his rights advocacy and his brave, brave witness for the truth. we will not let those who hold gao zhisheng to destroy his legacy. we will not allow these criminals to dispose of his significance. we will