A blind, self-taught activist lawyer who documented forced abortions and other abuses was released from a Chinese prison yesterday and promptly confined in his rural village with no access to communication, a relative said.
Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠), 39, is a charismatic, inspirational figure for civil liberties lawyers who have fought to enforce the rights that are enshrined in China’s Constitution but often breached by the authoritarian government and police. Chen was imprisoned in 2006, marking the start of a crackdown on activist attorneys.
Chen was escorted to his village as family members were preparing to leave to meet him at the Linyi City prison, relative Yin Dongjiang said.
The family has been under heavy surveillance in recent days and authorities cut off phone service for several relatives, he said.
“There are a lot of people in the village right now and the family isn't allowed to leave their home,” said Yin, whose sister is married to Chen's older brother.
Yin said he had not seen Chen and did not know what his physical condition was after the four-year prison term.
Five men in plain clothes blocked the road into Chen's village with a van and six more came running after Associated Press journalists who tried to enter the community. After a brief scuffle with the journalists, the men jumped into their van and chased the journalists' car at high speed as they left the area.
A Radio Free Asia reporter who spoke with Chen minutes after he returned home early yesterday asked whether he and his family could now have real freedom.
Chen, whose wife told the reporter they were being monitored, said only: “I would like to send my gratitude to friends around the world for their concern.”
Chen said he had been tortured while in prison, with the abuse particularly bad in 2007, but did not elaborate. He said he did not currently have any major health problems, aside from chronic diarrhea that began with a bout of food poisoning in July 2007.
Repeated calls to the cellphones of Chen's wife and brother were met with busy signals. It was not clear how long the apparent communication blackout would last. Authorities installed six surveillance cameras in the village last week to help them monitor Chen, Yin said.
A man surnamed Li in the propaganda department of the Yinan County Communist Party Committee, which oversees Dongshigu, denied that the cameras were targeting Chen and said they had been installed in several villages as part of a safety campaign.
“Soft detention” is a common tactic used by the Chinese government to intimidate activists, with some essentially put under house arrest for years.
“For some Chinese activists, the end of a prison term is just the beginning of a lifelong sentence of police surveillance and harassment,” Sophie Richardson, acting Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “The Chinese government has a chance to demonstrate real respect for the rule of law by ending its persecution of Chen and his family.”
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