At around 12:00 p.m. on August 15, 2006, 30 thugs from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) broke in and kidnapped me in a violent manner from my older sister's home in Shandong Province.

Meanwhile, about 40 unidentified men broke into my home in Beijing and ransacked my place for a few hours. They stole all of my belongings and left only 300 yuan in cash. During the process, they didn't present any legal documents or identify themselves. They were silent throughout the process. They also searched my wife and my two underage children, and started to put them under house arrest for an indefinite amount of time.

To achieve their illegal purpose, 11 goons stayed at my home around the clock for 11 consecutive days without our permission.

They kept the TV on 24-hours a day, used my kitchen and bathroom at will. They worked in rotation, but there were always seven to eleven people guarding us from my living room at any given time. They played cards, watched TV, ate snacks and chatted aloud. They have violated the most basic human rights. Even my two-year-old boy Gao Tianyu's bedroom was guarded by two people.

My wife and children were not allowed to turn off the light when they went to bed or keep the bedroom door closed. My family was not even allowed to keep the door closed when they used the bathroom. My wife's and children's each and every move, including sleep, was closely watched by these goons. Eleven days later, the goons moved their camp downstairs, but they continued to watch my wife and two children.

During the next four months my wife was watched by at least four big men when she had to go out. When my daughter went to middle school and when my son went to kindergarten, they were watched by four to six goons. They watched my children from outside the classrooms. During these four months, they beat up my wife once in public, and pushed and insulted her countless times. My daughter was repeatedly beaten up and insulted. Even my three nephews that worked part-time in Beijing were illegally detained for 21 days.

On August 15, 2006, Shanxin Province's Public Security Bureau (PSB) hired about 40 local thugs to break into my parents' home in Shanxi Province. They had my parents' home under siege and bullied my family for four months.

On the same day, a few dozen unidentified men started to watch and follow my parents-in-law and my wife's sister in Ürümchi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region. The local police ordered my parents-in-law not to leave home and took their IDs by force.

My mother-in-law, in her 60's, took the risk to flee from home in the middle of the night to Beijing. But the cold-blooded goons watching my home in Beijing forbade this elderly woman who spent two days and two nights on the road from entering my home. She had no choice but to stay outdoors overnight.

On the next day, she waited for my wife on the only path to the supermarket and finally met her. The mother and daughter hugged each other and burst into tears. But the goons followed them home and interrogated my mother-in-law. While my mother-in-law was in Beijing, she was closely followed by four to six goons.

In Shandong Province, my older sister's child was taken into custody 24-hours before the court order date and was kept in police custody until my brother-in-law passed away. The police in Shandong Province even forbade my nephew from attending his father's funeral. This is an outrageous act against the Chinese customs. The police argued that they were executing the order from the PSB.

After I was kidnapped, I began a hunger strike to protest the illegal detention. After 36 hours of hunger strike, I learned that my wife and children were cut off from food and water so I had to stop the hunger strike. During the illegal detention, the CCP subjected me to brutal tortures and psychological abuses.

When they failed to make me give in, they threatened to deprive my wife and children's basic means of survival. "We don't ask much. We ask only two things from you. First, plead guilty. Second, stop fighting for human rights. You are a very special case 815 [my code name during the illegal custody]. We have to break all the rules and conventions to make you give in. We will not hesitate to use any means on you as long as it works."

"815, we have designed many means against you. We can bring your older brother here and make him kneel before you until you plead guilty. We will use every means necessary no matter how long it takes."

Because of these inhuman tortures and coercions, I was forced to "plead guilty" and "guaranteed" in writing not to fight for human rights. After many drafts of the forced "guilty plead" and "guarantee", the police decided to write them for me and have me transcribe it. This became the "statement of repentance" that the public saw later.

I hereby make a solemn declaration.

First, I completely deny the false charges that the CCP authorities placed on me through their inhuman tortures and abuses.

Second, I completely deny the entire content of the "statement of repentance." Both the CCP authorities and I knew it was a complete falsehood from the beginning, but I insist on declaring it to be void.

Third, it was my true will to publish the statement on December 13, 2005 to withdraw from the CCP [and its two affiliated organizations.] I hereby acknowledge and confirm the statement again.

Fourth, I hereby confirm the three open letters I have written before August 15, 2006. Fifth, I shall persevere in fighting against the totalitarian and inhuman rule that suppresses people's freedom of thinking.

Gao Zhisheng