Police took Liu Xiaobo away one year ago, a day before the publication of a document he co-authored that called for more civil rights in China and an end to the Communist Party's political dominance. The former professor has been held without charge ever since and allowed just two visits from his wife.

Other Chinese bold enough to put their names to "Charter 08" _ an unusually direct call for a new constitution guaranteeing human rights, the open election of public officials, and freedom of religion and expression _ have been interrogated or tailed by police as part of a government drive to quash the effort.

A news blackout and Internet censorship have left most Chinese unaware that it exists.

Still, a year later, about 10,000 people have signed "Charter 08" and several signatories said Monday that their aspirations are still alive.

Beijing lawyer Mo Shaoping said the document marks a significant step for China and compared it to the document it was modeled on _ a charter written by Vaclav Havel and others in 1977. That declaration helped pave the way for the 1989 Velvet Revolution that swept away the communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia.

"Only a few hundred intellectuals took part in Vaclav Havel's Charter 77, so it was initially much smaller in scope than ours, but they kept at it and well, everyone knows how that turned out," said Mo, who was barred from representing Liu, the document's chief architect, because he too was a signatory. Two other lawyers from his firm have taken the case instead.

Liu was detained Dec. 8, 2008, the day before the charter was released and held at a secret location for six months. The literary critic and former professor was formally arrested in June on suspicion of "inciting to subvert state power" _ a loosely defined charge that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.

His wife, Liu Xia, says she has not seen or spoken to her husband since March when police arranged a short, supervised meeting for the couple in a Beijing hotel room. She now hopes authorities will free her husband soon or convict him quickly so she can at least be allowed regular visits.

"Of course, I would like there to be a miracle and to have him come home tomorrow," said Liu Xia, a rail-thin 48-year-old poet and painter. "They keep delaying and it makes me very anxious not to see him. I will be less anxious (when he is sentenced) because at least I will be able to see him once a month, to write him letters and bring him books."