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中国著名维权律师高智晟的妻子耿和于2009年4月23日写信给美国国会议员，要求美国国会向中国政府施加压力，公开说明自今年2月失踪丈夫的下落。耿和授权中国人权发表这封公开信。
高智晟律师以代理拆迁户、法轮功学员和家庭教会活跃人士的案件，直言批评中国政府而闻名。自2005年他连续写信给中国领导人，呼吁停止迫害法轮功学员和异议人士后，便成为中国政府打压的对象。在2006年12月，当局以“煽动颠覆国家政权罪”判处他3年有期徒刑，缓刑5年。在缓刑期间，高智晟遭到当局多次拘禁，他的家人也遭到警方的长期骚扰。2007年9月，高智晟因给美国国会写公开信，批评中国的人权状况，遭到当局的绑架，长达59天。在此期间，他遭到警方的酷刑折磨。中国人权于2009年2月初受权发表高智晟本人对遭受酷刑的详述。
2009年1月9日，高智晟律师的妻子耿和携子女逃离中国，一个星期后到达泰国。2月4日，目击者见到高智晟被10多名国安人员从他老家陕西省佳县神泉乡小石板桥村强行带走，此后便失去音讯。他的妻子和两个孩子于2009年3月11日抵达美国。目前，已有许多政府、人权团体和律师组织紧急表达对高智晟律师安全的严重关切。
高智晟妻子致美国国会议员公开信
尊敬的美国国会议员：
我叫耿和，是中国大陆正在遭受迫害的政治犯高智晟律师的妻子。今年3月11日，我携带一儿一女来到美国政治避难。我写信给您们，首先对美国政府表示感谢。在我们一家身处危境之际，美国政府的人道主义援手使得我和子女得以逃脱残酷的迫害。现在我们安全了，但我的丈夫高智晟的处境却更危险了。因此，我恳请您们能够进一步帮助我们一家，制止中国政府迫害我的先生高智晟律师。
我的先生高智晟，是一位正直的律师。由于他的专业能力，我们一家曾经有很好的经济收入和生活。从2003年开始，我先生开始参与维权案例，为此频繁与大陆各级腐败黑社会化的政府发生冲突。2004年，他调查和披露中国大陆最大的政治迫害案中法轮功学员受迫害的情况，并三次致信中国领导人，要求停止迫害法轮功。他这样做，虽然并不违背中国的法律，但是各级政府还是不断威胁他，并吊销了他的律师执照。他亲身经历的问题使得他认识到，如果不改变中国的政治体制，就无法依照法律维护公民的安全、利益和尊严。于是，他在中国宪法和法律允许的框架中，发起一次次公民和平示威请愿，揭露和抗议政府的腐败和暴政问题。
我先生的正义行动，招致中国政府不断升级的迫害。2006年8月15日，他们绑架了我先生，并于9月21日正式逮捕他。其间，当局为摧毁我先生的意志，百般折磨他，还绑架、骚扰和折磨我和我们的孩子。2006年12月21日，在剥夺了我先生聘请辩护律师权利的情况下，当局判决我先生有罪并处以刑罚。
我先生随后向国际社会揭露了这些问题。当局非常恼火。多次对他实施绑架和迫害。2007年9月21日晚上，我先生被套上黑头套，绑架到不知名的地方，多人对他进行长达59天的各种酷刑摧残。其中，有电棍击打身体、竹签捅生殖器和烟熏五官等酷刑。当时，我先生疼痛难当，汗水、血水和各种体液，流了一地。当局声称折磨我先生的理由之一，是他写信给美国国会。
2009年1月9日，由于不堪中国政府的流氓野蛮骚扰和迫害，我带著孩子踏上逃离中国的艰险路途。2月4日，我先生在陕西老家再度失踪，至今音信全无。这肯定是中国政府报复我们的逃亡，将他再次绑架。鉴于过去的恐怖经验，我非常担心我先生的安全。
尊敬的美国国会议员，作为妻子，我现在心乱如麻，怀疑我是否应该离开中国。尽管我有思想准备与我先生共患难，但是我们的孩子，一个16岁，另一个只有5岁，已经在当局的绑架、恫吓和殴打下，无法上学。女儿甚至离家出走，亲友们担心恐惧会导致她精神不正常。如不离开那个可怕的国家，他们的一生就毁掉了。但是，我先生却因我们逃离中国而备遭折磨，对此我真的心如刀割。孩子天天也追问我，爸爸在哪里？我孤身无援，万般无奈，只能向您们呼吁，对中国政府施加压力，让他们停止迫害我先生，并告诉全世界我先生在什么地方以及情况怎样。
我的朋友告诉我，美国这个伟大的国家把人权作为国家外交政策的基石，决不会坐视我先生受苦而不管。因此，他们鼓励和建议我写信给您们，寻求帮助。我想起我先生还有自由的时候，每当中国有重大人权迫害案发生时，他总是把眼光投向美国。他总是说，美国是世界自由和人权秩序的基石；美国不会容忍强权暴政 肆无忌惮地凌辱弱者和民众。
我到美国刚刚一个多月，但我已经感受到，在这个伟大的宪政民主国家中，公民享受安全、自由和尊严。我更加理解我先生奋斗的意义。他曾经以极大勇气告诉世人，他要让中国人像美国人民一样，享受免除恐惧的自由和尊严。为此，他正遭受著迫害。
过去，当我每每为他挑战暴政的举动感到担心时，我先生还经常安慰我说，邪不压正，得道多助；如果有一天他因为理念和正义而受到迫害，全世界爱好正义的人们会声援和支持他的。我知道，他在监狱里忍受各种迫害时，内心怀著怎样的光明和希望！在面对巨大的暴政机器时，这样的希望可能显得很弱小但却非常坚定，因为对美国的信心和期待是这份希望和期待的核心！
现在，我愿尽我所能，不让他失望！我想通过您们，让他得到伟大的美国的帮助。那是他在黑牢中忍受各种酷刑时内心中珍存的一份信念和希望！
尊敬的美国国会议员，请帮助我，声援我的先生高智晟律师，让邪恶的势力知道，迫害不是没有阻力的；让成千上万的暴政下痛苦地生活的中国人知道，美国在关注著他们的人权状况，不会放弃。我先生会因此更加不屈，中国人会因此而受到鼓舞，中国和世界会因此而最终得到改变！
万分感谢您们的关注！
中国维权律师高智晟的妻子 耿和
2009年4月23日
英文
Letter by Geng He to U.S. Congress
[Translated by Human Rights in China]
April 23, 2009
Honorable Members of the United States Congress,
My name is Geng He (耿和) and I am the wife of political prisoner and lawyer Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), who is currently being persecuted in mainland China. On March 11 this year, I arrived in the United States with my son and daughter for political asylum. I write this letter to you in order to, first, express my gratitude towards the American government. At a time when our family was in danger, the American government’s humanitarian aid enabled my children and me to escape from brutal persecution. We are safe now, but my husband’s situation has become more perilous. Therefore, I entreat you to go a step further in helping our family by putting an end to the Chinese government’s persecution of my husband, lawyer Gao Zhisheng.
My husband is an honest lawyer. Due to his professional capabilities our family once had a good income and living standard. When my husband began taking part in rights defense cases in 2003, he clashed frequently with the corrupt and criminalized elements of the Chinese government at all levels. In 2004, he investigated and exposed the government’s actions against Falun Gong followers in the biggest political persecution case in mainland China and wrote letters to Chinese leaders three times requesting them to stop their attacks on Falun Gong. Though his actions did not violate China’s laws, but rather, upheld them, he was still continuously threatened by the government at all levels and his lawyer’s license was revoked. The problems he personally encountered made him realize that, without changing the political system of China, there would be no way to lawfully ensure the safety, interests, and dignity of citizens. Therefore, time and again, within the framework allowed by the Chinese Constitution and the law, he initiated peaceful citizen demonstrations and petitions to expose and protest the problems of corruption in government and tyrannical rule.
My husband’s righteous actions drew continuous and escalating abuse by the Chinese government. On August 15, 2006, they kidnapped my husband and formally arrested him on September 21. During this period, the authorities tormented him in all sorts of ways and even kidnapped, harassed, and tormented our children and me in order to break his will. On December 21, 2006, after having deprived my husband of the right to retain defense counsel, the authorities convicted and sentenced him.
Soon afterwards, my husband revealed these problems to the international community. The authorities were infuriated. They kidnapped and tormented him many times. On the night of September 21, 2007, my husband, with a black hood thrown over his head, was kidnapped and brought to an unknown location. For 59 days, many people tortured and ravaged him in all kinds of ways, including beating him with an electric prod, inserting bamboo sticks into his reproductive organs, holding lit cigarettes close to his eyes and nose, etc., so that his eyes would burn and he would be forced to inhale smoke. My husband told me later that he was in such unbearable pain at the time that his sweat, blood, and other bodily fluids covered the floor. Among the reasons the authorities gave for tormenting my husband was that he had written to the United States Congress.
Because we could no longer endure the Chinese government’s thuggish and barbaric harassment and persecution, on January 9, 2009, I took my children on the treacherous journey of escaping China. On February 4, my husband disappeared again from his hometown in Shaanxi and has not been heard from since. I have no doubt that this kidnapping was the Chinese government’s retaliation for our escape. In view of his horrific experiences in the past, I’m extremely worried about my husband’s safety.
Honorable members of the U.S. Congress, as a wife I am terribly distressed and doubt our decision to leave China. Though I had been mentally prepared to face adversities alongside my husband, our children, ages 16 and five, have already been unable to go to school due to the kidnapping, intimidation, and beatings by the authorities. My daughter even ran away from home. Our relatives and friends are worried that she will become mentally disturbed from her fear. If we had not left that horrific country, their whole lives would have been ruined. However, that my husband was prepared to be tortured for the sake of our escape is like a knife in my heart. My children ask me every day, where’s dad? I’m alone and isolated here and can only appeal to you to pressure the Chinese government to stop persecuting my husband and tell the world his whereabouts and condition.
My friends tell me that this great nation of the United States, which regards human rights as a cornerstone of its foreign policy, would never just sit and watch my husband suffer and do nothing. Thus they encouraged and advised me to write to you to seek help. I remember that, when my husband was still free, whenever major human rights cases arose in China, he would always look towards the United States. He always said: The United States is the cornerstone of world freedom, human rights and social order; the United States would not tolerate despotic rule and the wanton abuse of the weak and the masses.
I have been in the United States for just over a month but I’ve already felt that in this great nation of constitutional government, citizens enjoy security, liberty and dignity. I can understand even more the meaning of my husband’s struggles. He, with utmost courage, once told the people of the world that he wanted Chinese people to enjoy freedom and dignity without fear, just like Americans. It is for this that he is being persecuted.
In the past, whenever I was worried about my husband because of his challenges against tyranny, he would often console me by saying, evil cannot win over good, the ones upholding justice will always have help. He said that if one day he would be persecuted because of his ideals and sense of justice, the people in the world who believe in justice would stand by him and support him. I know that he would still harbor this light and hope in his heart while enduring various torments in prison! When faced with a huge machine of tyranny, this hope may seem small and weak but it is extraordinarily steadfast, because his faith in the United States is at the core of his hope and expectation.
Now, I am willing do all I can to not let him down! I hope that he can gain the help of the great United States through you. That is the faith and hope he holds in his heart while enduring all forms of torture in that dark prison cell!
Honorable members of the U.S. Congress, please help me support my husband, lawyer Gao Zhisheng, so that the evil forces will know that there is resistance against persecution; so that the millions of Chinese suffering this despotic rule will know that the United States is concerned about their human rights situation, and will not give up. My husband would be more resolute because of this, the Chinese people would feel inspired because of this, and China and the world would eventually transform because of this!
Many thanks for your concern!
Geng He
Wife of Chinese rights defense lawyer Gao Zhisheng.
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