2012-04-27
Blind, self-taught lawyer had documented the abuse of women under China's one-child policy.
Blind activist Chen Guangcheng in an undated photo.
Blind Shandong legal activist Chen Guangcheng has escaped from house arrest after being held for 18 months alongside his family with no access to medical care, a U.S.-based rights group said on Friday, adding that the authorities have now detained an activist who helped him travel part of the way to Beijing.
"Dear Premier Wen," Chen said in a videotaped message to China's premier Wen Jiabao sent from an undisclosed location and posted on YouTube via the overseas Chinese news site Boxun. "I have escaped with great difficulty."
Chen escaped earlier this week, and is now "100% safe in Beijing," the Texas-based Christian rights group ChinaAid said in a statement on its website, quoting "a source who brought Chen to Beijing."
It gave no details of exactly how Chen managed to elude capture by the hundreds of security personnel hired to guard his home, but implied that a large number of people were involved.
"The entire village and government leaders were stunned by the developments when Chen Guangcheng was not found. So they are surrounding his home," the group's president and founder Bob Fu told Reuters.
ChinaAid said it was asked on Friday to convey a message from Chen, who vowed "to fight to the end for the freedom of my family inside China. I want to live a normal life as a Chinese citizen with my family."
Call for investigation
Chen called in the video for Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to open an investigation into the treatment meted out to him and his family during the last 18 months.
The video showed a thin-looking, unshaven Chen, sitting against a tall, decorative curtain suggestive of a large, official-looking room. Some reports have suggested Chen may have sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy, but RFA was unable to verify them.
Addressing the camera directly, Chen gave the fullest account yet of his experiences with his family under house arrest at their home in Dongshigu village, Yinan county, warning of possible "insane revenge attacks" on his wife, mother, and daughter following his escape.
"My mother, my wife, and my child are still there, suffering this oppression, and I am afraid that they will be subjected to insane revenge attacks," Chen said, calling for immediate action from the ruling Communist Party in Beijing.
"When they beat up my wife, they broke her bones. To this day you can feel where the bones are sticking out. Then, being utterly without humanity, they refused her access to medical treatment," he said, also describing attacks on himself and his elderly mother, who was prevented from going out to buy food for the family in December, sparking concerns for the family's lives.
"I was very worried ... about our safety, which is why I started to call on people outside to pay attention to what was happening to us," Chen said.
'Shameless, inhumane'
He hit out at the "shameless, inhumane" officials from his hometown, who had hired hundreds of people at times to ensure that no one was able to visit the family.
Many tried, including most notably Hollywood actor Christian Bale, who, together with a CNN camera crew, was repelled by a gang of stone-throwing security guards and chased away from Dongshigu last year.
A large portion of the video was given over to a list of all of the names of the officials and hired thugs who beat Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, most notably in a four-to-five hour attack last July.
ChinaAid said it was also concerned at the fate of He Peirong, "one of the friends who helped drive Chen on April 22 from his home in Dongshigu village ... to a safe location in another province."
"He Peirong was in communication with ChinaAid when she was arrested at her home in Nanjing, coastal Jiangsu province, on Friday at 11:11 a.m. She has not responded to later efforts to reach her," the group said.
It said police have also detained Chen's older brother and nephew, Chen Guangfu and Chen Kegui for "stabbing government officials."
"We admire Chen’s extraordinary courage and his unwavering desire to fight for the fundamental rights owed every Chinese citizen,” the group's founder and president Bob Fu said in a statement.
"We urge the U.S. government and other democratic nations to show the courage of their convictions and protect this brave rights defender."
ChinaAid said it has briefed the U.S. State Department and congressional and White House officials about Chen’s situation.
Chen, a self-taught lawyer who campaigned for the rights of rural women under China's draconian family-planning regime, was jailed for more than four years for “damaging public property and obstructing traffic” in August 2006.
Reported by Luisetta Mudie.
"Dear Premier Wen," Chen said in a videotaped message to China's premier Wen Jiabao sent from an undisclosed location and posted on YouTube via the overseas Chinese news site Boxun. "I have escaped with great difficulty."
Chen escaped earlier this week, and is now "100% safe in Beijing," the Texas-based Christian rights group ChinaAid said in a statement on its website, quoting "a source who brought Chen to Beijing."
It gave no details of exactly how Chen managed to elude capture by the hundreds of security personnel hired to guard his home, but implied that a large number of people were involved.
"The entire village and government leaders were stunned by the developments when Chen Guangcheng was not found. So they are surrounding his home," the group's president and founder Bob Fu told Reuters.
ChinaAid said it was asked on Friday to convey a message from Chen, who vowed "to fight to the end for the freedom of my family inside China. I want to live a normal life as a Chinese citizen with my family."
Call for investigation
Chen called in the video for Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to open an investigation into the treatment meted out to him and his family during the last 18 months.
The video showed a thin-looking, unshaven Chen, sitting against a tall, decorative curtain suggestive of a large, official-looking room. Some reports have suggested Chen may have sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy, but RFA was unable to verify them.
Addressing the camera directly, Chen gave the fullest account yet of his experiences with his family under house arrest at their home in Dongshigu village, Yinan county, warning of possible "insane revenge attacks" on his wife, mother, and daughter following his escape.
"My mother, my wife, and my child are still there, suffering this oppression, and I am afraid that they will be subjected to insane revenge attacks," Chen said, calling for immediate action from the ruling Communist Party in Beijing.
"When they beat up my wife, they broke her bones. To this day you can feel where the bones are sticking out. Then, being utterly without humanity, they refused her access to medical treatment," he said, also describing attacks on himself and his elderly mother, who was prevented from going out to buy food for the family in December, sparking concerns for the family's lives.
"I was very worried ... about our safety, which is why I started to call on people outside to pay attention to what was happening to us," Chen said.
'Shameless, inhumane'
He hit out at the "shameless, inhumane" officials from his hometown, who had hired hundreds of people at times to ensure that no one was able to visit the family.
Many tried, including most notably Hollywood actor Christian Bale, who, together with a CNN camera crew, was repelled by a gang of stone-throwing security guards and chased away from Dongshigu last year.
A large portion of the video was given over to a list of all of the names of the officials and hired thugs who beat Chen and his wife, Yuan Weijing, most notably in a four-to-five hour attack last July.
ChinaAid said it was also concerned at the fate of He Peirong, "one of the friends who helped drive Chen on April 22 from his home in Dongshigu village ... to a safe location in another province."
"He Peirong was in communication with ChinaAid when she was arrested at her home in Nanjing, coastal Jiangsu province, on Friday at 11:11 a.m. She has not responded to later efforts to reach her," the group said.
It said police have also detained Chen's older brother and nephew, Chen Guangfu and Chen Kegui for "stabbing government officials."
"We admire Chen’s extraordinary courage and his unwavering desire to fight for the fundamental rights owed every Chinese citizen,” the group's founder and president Bob Fu said in a statement.
"We urge the U.S. government and other democratic nations to show the courage of their convictions and protect this brave rights defender."
ChinaAid said it has briefed the U.S. State Department and congressional and White House officials about Chen’s situation.
Chen, a self-taught lawyer who campaigned for the rights of rural women under China's draconian family-planning regime, was jailed for more than four years for “damaging public property and obstructing traffic” in August 2006.
Reported by Luisetta Mudie.
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