(July 12, 2025) It has been eight years since Mr. Gao Zhisheng, a renowned Chinese human rights lawyer, was forcibly disappeared in Shaanxi in 2017, and no news has been heard of him. The Chinese government has never provided any formal explanation for this grave matter and remains silent in the face of inquiries from the international society. As a lawyer long known for speaking up for marginalized groups and exposing human rights violations, Gao Zhisheng’s disappearance is not only a serious human rights case, but also a stark symbol of the Chinese authorities’ severe crackdown on dissenting voices.
On July 8, 2025, during a symposium held on Capitol Hill on the state of human rights in China, Gao Zhisheng’s wife, Geng He, delivered a deeply moving speech. As a wife, a mother, and a direct victim of human rights abuse, she shared Gao Zhisheng’s story and the suffering and perseverance their family has endured over the past eight years with a heavy heart.
Her speech was not only a call for answers about her husband’s fate, but also a cry on behalf of countless silenced individuals. Here, we published the full text of Ms. Geng He’s speech at the symposium, hoping more people can come to understand Gao Zhisheng’s faith, sacrifice, and silent resistance, and to remind the world that even today, there are individuals who are still paying a price for truth and justice, still standing watch for the light in darkness.
— China Aid Association
Full Text:
First, I sincerely thank the organizers for holding this symposium and for your attention to the ongoing suppression of civil rights and religious freedom in China. I would like to especially thank everyone present for your long-standing care and support for my husband, Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng.
My husband, Gao Zhisheng, is a lawyer and a devout Christian. He used his legal expertise to provide assistance to persecuted groups, including house church Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, and marginalized groups facing violent forced evictions. Despite repeated warnings and obstruction from the Beijing Lawyers Association and judicial authorities, he firmly upheld professional ethics and followed his conscience, doing everything in his power to defend the innocent.
In truth, he never violated any laws of China. On the contrary, what he exposed were the grave human rights violations still perpetrated by the Chinese Communist authorities in the 21st century, including extralegal detentions, torture, and abuse. As a citizen and a lawyer, he wrote open letters to the country’s leaders documenting these atrocities. For that, in 2005, his license to practice law was revoked, and his Beijing-based Shengzhi Law Office was forcibly shut down.
In August 2006, Gao Zhisheng was sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year probation for “inciting subversion of state power.” However, during the probation period, he was repeatedly secretly abducted by the state, subjected to torture, and held in solitary confinement. After the probation was fulfilled, he was again imprisoned at Shaya Prison in Xinjiang at the end of 2011, where he was held in solitary confinement under extremely harsh conditions for three years and was severely tormented physically and psychologically.
After his release in 2014, he did not gain freedom; instead, he remained under illegal house arrest. All the way till August 13, 2017, he was forcibly taken away again. Since that day, there has not been a word for nearly eight years.
In these eight years, we have not received a single photo, a single sentence, a single legal document, or any formal notice. No one has taken responsibility. There has been no indication as to whether he is alive. He has simply been “disappeared” from the world.
We have never stopped searching for him in these eight years. Our family has repeatedly hired lawyers and sent inquiries to various public security organs. However, every time, the responses are either the cruel “We do not know,” or vague excuses like “We will ask Beijing.”
For me, these eight years have been a never-ending nightmare.
Every morning I wake up, I always ask myself: Is he still alive?
Every time I eat, I cannot help but wonder: Does he have food?
With every milestone our children reach, I want to tell their father, but where is father?
So I hereby solemnly appeal to the U.S. government, to members of Congress who have long followed China’s human rights situation, to human rights organizations, and the entire free world: Please do not stay silent.
We cannot allow a lawyer who once stood up for the rule of law in China to die in darkness, to vanish in silence.
Please, at the very least, demand an answer for Gao Zhisheng: Is he alive or dead?
This is not only a devastating blow to my family, but a direct challenge to the values of human rights.
I hereby urge the U.S. government and those present here not only to continue paying attention to Gao Zhisheng’s case, but to take more decisive and concrete actions. For example, can the U.S. Embassy’s human rights officer in China attempt to meet with Gao Zhisheng’s relatives in China?
Please, do not let Gao Zhisheng remain in this state of uncertain life or death, a state of utter forced “disappearance.”
Please, do not let his voice be buried forever.
Please, do not let darkness forever cover his name.
Thank you all.