Chen Guangcheng Alive As Of July 28th

Valiant Lawyer Tortured In Front of His Family For Contacting the Outside World

On October 10th we passed on to you unconfirmed reports that Chen Guangcheng may have been killed by Chinese authorities. We now know that as of July 28th Chen was still alive. Unfortunately, as the article below details, on July 28th he was brutally beaten in front of his wife and four year old son by local Chinese officials.

Chen first drew the ire of the Communist government of China by exposing government abuse and brutality in the course of over 100,000 forced abortions in a single Chinese county in a single year. Since then Chen has become a living example of the inhuman brutality of the Communist regime enduring beatings, denial of medical treatment and even deprivation of food. To learn more please watch the Free Chen Guangcheng! video made by our friends at Women’s Rights Without Frontiers.

We ask that you continue to pray for Chen and his family. We will keep you informed as more information continues to escape the media blackout imposed by the Communist government. If you have not yet done so, please add your names to the petition asking for Chen’s release. As always, we thank you, on Chen’s behalf, for all your prayers and support.

Details of Brutal Beating & Torture of Blind Legal Activist Chen Guangcheng Emerge

China Aid Association

(Linyi, Shandong – Oct. 27, 2011) ChinaAid has learned the details of a brutal four-hour beating by local authorities of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng and his wife, about whom there has been no reliable news for months.

The July beating, which was witnessed by the couple’s elementary school-age son, is but one episode in a pattern of horrific persecution against Chen because he had exposed the violent and deadly measures used by Chinese authorities to enforce the nation’s one-child policy.  The couple endured a similarly brutal beating in February after they had smuggled out a videotape documenting the shocking conditions of their illegal house arrest following Chen’s release from prison.  (See the ChinaAid report)

A reliable source told ChinaAid that the July beating occurred after a storm knocked out equipment that authorities had installed in Chen’s house to cut off all their telecommunications contact with the outside world.  With the equipment disabled, Chen was able to make phone calls on July 25, but the calls were intercepted by authorities.  On July 28, Shuanghou town mayor Zhang Jian led a group of people to Chen’s home and beat and tortured the couple for four hours.

This is the sequence of events:
2 p.m. – authorities clear out everyone from Chen’s village
3 p.m. – authorities conduct an exhaustive search of Chen’s home and find a phone card in a pile of ashes
4 p.m.-authorities start the beating. Chen’s screams of pain were heard first, while his wife Yuan Weijing was heard shouting angrily along with their daughter Kesi’s cries. After a while, Weijing’s screams of pain could also be heard. From then until 8 p.m., the only sounds were screams of pain.

Some time later, a village doctor was permitted to give Chen some cursory medical treatment.

During the four-hour beating, Chen’s elderly mother, who lives with them, was prevented from entering their home.  When she was finally allowed to go in, neighbors heard her burst into tears, and her anguished cries -described as “gut-wrenching to hear” – continued for a long time.

According to the source, Zhang tortured Chen to try to get him to tell how he got the phone card to make the calls on July 25 and to reveal where he had hidden it.  When Chen and his wife refused to give any details, their house was ransacked until the phone card was found in a pile of ashes.

Then the mayor’s men viciously beat up Chen and his wife in the presence of their son Kesi.  “As family men themselves with parents and children, how could they inflict such inhuman pain on a little boy?” the source asked.

ChinaAid’s founder and president Bob Fu said, “We condemn the Shandong authorities for their extreme brutality against innocent blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng and his wife.”

“The Chinese government’s brutality against  brave individuals like Mr. Chen who promote the rule of law should certainly make the world seriously doubt the sincerity of the Chinese government’s commitment to international  human rights,” Fu said.

Chen was imprisoned for four years and three months for exposing the violent measures used to enforce China’s one-child policy, including forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations that in his county alone in 2005 numbered 130,000.

Since his release from prison in Sept. 2010, Chen has been kept under illegal house arrest, denied medical treatment for serious intestinal problems and deprived of all contact with the outside world.  Reporters and activists who have tried to visit him have been roughed up and turned away.

As a result, there has been no reliable information about Chen and his family for months, although there have been unconfirmed reports this fall that Chen might have been killed by Chinese authorities.

On July 21, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed an amendment to the State Department 2012 appropriation bill supporting Chen and his wife. (See ChinaAid’s report)

Please support the cause for which Chen and his wife have paid such a high price and sign this petition to stop forced abortion in China.

ChinaAid Contacts
Bob Fu, President;  Mark Shan, Spokesperson
Tel: 1+ (888) 889-7757    Cell:  (267) 205-5210
Email: Bob@ChinaAid.org Mark@ChinaAid.org
Website: www.ChinaAid.org www.MonitorChina.org