Chinese democracy activist Lu survives severe beating

Lu Banglie (呂邦列), the Chinese democracy activist who was savagely beaten at the weekend, has been found injured but alive.

Lu has said that he was battered unconscious and later driven hundreds of kilometers to his home town where he is now recuperating. Civil rights lawyers said they were considering a legal case against his attackers, thought to be a group of thugs hired by the local authorities to put down an anti-corruption campaign against the chief of Taishi village.

Although the attack was witnessed by a foreign correspondent, the local propaganda department insisted there had been no violence and provincial officials said it was too early to respond to requests for a full investigation.

Missing

Lu went missing on Saturday night after he attempted to take the Guardian's Benjamin Joffe-Walt into Taishi, a flashpoint in a growing wave of regional unrest that has challenged the authority of the Chinese Communist Party. He was last seen lying unconscious on the side of the road.

Late on Monday, however, Lu re-emerged from hospital in his home town of Zhijiang, Hubei Province to tell his version of what happened after he was dragged out of the car by an angry mob.

"Five to six of them pulled my hair and punched me in the head. They kicked my legs and body for a couple of minutes. Then I passed out. Some people then splashed water on me which brought me round, then I passed out again," he said.

When he came to, he was being driven back to Hubei.

Check up

The propaganda office said Lu had been picked off the road near Taishi at 9pm -- an hour after the assault -- taken to a nearby hospital for a check-up and then at 1.30am driven out of the area.

The Pan Yu propaganda office said there had definately been "no violence" and that Lu had "pretended to be dead."

Lu said such claims were laughable.

"When I came around, I was too nauseous to eat. My body aches all over and my head hurts," he said.

But he said only his arm was visibly wounded.

Legal action

His supporters, who include lawyer Gao Jisheng(高智晟), say they are considering legal action.

The Guardian has asked the Guangdong authorities to investigate the attack but a spokeswoman said a response would be made in the next few days.

Lu said he was aware of the dangers and had no regrets about going to Taishi.

"I believe you cannot write off truth. The authorities control the village tightly. They try to prevent news from leaking out, which hurts not only the democratization of Taishi village but the entire country," he said.