Letter Alleges Beating of Chinese Activist and Wife

Source: The New York Times

BEIJING — Details are emerging about the apparently brutal detention of one of China’s most important legal activists, the blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng.

Mr. Chen was released from jail last year after serving a 51-month sentence for disturbing public order and destroying public property — charges linked to his uncovering of forced sterilizations and abortions in the eastern Chinese city of Linyi.

But since his release, he has been under “ruanjin,” or “soft detention,” a kind of house arrest increasingly being used by the authorities to silence people who have not violated the law. The authorities once celebrated the 39-year-old self-taught lawyer as a symbol of the country’s efforts to build a legal system, but turned against him when he used it to protest government abuse. Earlier this year, a video was smuggled out showing his detention. Reporters who tried to visit him were shooed off by undercover police officers who had encircled his home.

Now, ChinaAid, a human rights group based in the United States, says it has evidence of increased harassment, including beatings and confiscation of personal property. The group, which previously released Mr. Chen’s video, says it has obtained a letter from Mr. Chen’s wife, Yuan Weijing, that details the couple’s most recent travails.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/asia/18china.html