Chen Guangcheng's nephew flees in fear for his life
Four days after the blind activist Chen Guangcheng made his audacious bid for freedom, dropping over a wall under cover of darkness and limping away on an injured leg, his nephew also made a desperate escape through fields of peanut and sweet potato plants. Friends say the older man reached the safety of the US embassy in Beijing, but when last heard from on Sunday night, his nephew, Chen Kegui, was on the run – penniless, frightened, struggling for breath and hiding from a black car he feared was following him. The 33-year-old's flight is the most potent reminder that his uncle's incredible escape from 19 months of house arrest has come at a bitter cost.
On Monday, the European Union urged China to avoid harassing the activist's family and associates. But many are already in the hands of furious officials; Chen Kegui fled after lashing out with a knife at men who had broken into his home and detained his father. Shortly afterwards, two police officers marched his mother away from the hospital where she was caring for his sick child. Chen Kegui's wife is now too frightened to reveal her location. "She's afraid she will be next and the whole family will be taken away. She's terrified," said lawyer Liu Weiguo, whom she hired before she left.
The family lived just a few hundred metres away from Chen Guangcheng, in the village of Dongshigu in eastern Shandong province. But the family members had not seen each other for more than a year thanks to the state of siege in which the activist lived following his release from jail in 2010. His wife, Yuan Weijing, their six-year-old daughter and his mother are thought to remain under the watch of up to 100 hired guards – armed with hi-tech surveillance and phone-jamming equipment – who have beaten, threatened or harassed supporters, journalists and even diplomats trying to visit. They are said to have broken Yuan's bones in one beating last year...
Perhaps the most immediate cause for concern is Chen Kegui. Hours after the incident he told blogger Cao Yaxue that a group of men – armed with wooden clubs and led by a local official – had broken in at around midnight on Thursday after realising his uncle had escaped. Sobbing as he spoke, Chen Kegui described how he had grabbed kitchen knives to use for self-defence and slashed at the intruders as they tried to grab him. It is unclear how badly the men were injured.
"In China, law is trampled over at will. I love my motherland, but this is what she gives me," he told Cao. "Chen Guangcheng is innocent. But they forced a charge on him. My father is getting old, couldn't walk, and where did they take him? I feel helpless. "If I am sentenced to death, I hope someone will help take care of my father, my mother, my family, my child … I hope the case will be dealt with according to rights provided for by the law, not manipulated by the privileged people."...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/30/chen-guangcheng-nephew-flees
See previous report: China dissident escapes:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/china-dissident-chen-guangcheng-escapes.html
On Monday, the European Union urged China to avoid harassing the activist's family and associates. But many are already in the hands of furious officials; Chen Kegui fled after lashing out with a knife at men who had broken into his home and detained his father. Shortly afterwards, two police officers marched his mother away from the hospital where she was caring for his sick child. Chen Kegui's wife is now too frightened to reveal her location. "She's afraid she will be next and the whole family will be taken away. She's terrified," said lawyer Liu Weiguo, whom she hired before she left.
The family lived just a few hundred metres away from Chen Guangcheng, in the village of Dongshigu in eastern Shandong province. But the family members had not seen each other for more than a year thanks to the state of siege in which the activist lived following his release from jail in 2010. His wife, Yuan Weijing, their six-year-old daughter and his mother are thought to remain under the watch of up to 100 hired guards – armed with hi-tech surveillance and phone-jamming equipment – who have beaten, threatened or harassed supporters, journalists and even diplomats trying to visit. They are said to have broken Yuan's bones in one beating last year...
Perhaps the most immediate cause for concern is Chen Kegui. Hours after the incident he told blogger Cao Yaxue that a group of men – armed with wooden clubs and led by a local official – had broken in at around midnight on Thursday after realising his uncle had escaped. Sobbing as he spoke, Chen Kegui described how he had grabbed kitchen knives to use for self-defence and slashed at the intruders as they tried to grab him. It is unclear how badly the men were injured.
"In China, law is trampled over at will. I love my motherland, but this is what she gives me," he told Cao. "Chen Guangcheng is innocent. But they forced a charge on him. My father is getting old, couldn't walk, and where did they take him? I feel helpless. "If I am sentenced to death, I hope someone will help take care of my father, my mother, my family, my child … I hope the case will be dealt with according to rights provided for by the law, not manipulated by the privileged people."...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/30/chen-guangcheng-nephew-flees
See previous report: China dissident escapes:
http://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2012/04/china-dissident-chen-guangcheng-escapes.html
