Attorneys
Will Help Jailed China Activist Against Forced Abortions
by
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 16, 2006
 Beijing,
China (LifeNews.com) -- Ignoring the potential danger and political
troubles for themselves, a group of prominent Beijing lawyers have banded
together to take up the case of Chen Guangcheng. Chen is a blind political
activist who set off an international controversy when he exposed a
Chinese city's brutal forced abortion and sterilization campaign.
The
lawyers have formed a coalition to argue for Chen's freedom. After
spending months aft home under house arrest, LifeNews.com reported
earlier this week that Chinese police recently took him into custody.
Beijing
lawyer Teng Biao, who has been helping Chen, told the Financial Times
that 10 attorneys plan to ignore the potential risks and fallout and
travel to Shandong, a large city south of Beijing, to argue his case
and ask for him to receive fair treatment from the government.
"Our
goal is to go there and state our position," Teng told the Financial
Times, adding that the attorneys would be there to "back up"
the two main attorneys presenting Chen's case. They will also step
in if local officials prevent the pair from representing Chen.
Teng
indicated there is a chance the attorneys could be assaulted for their
participation and they or their families could face pressure from
the government, including potential imprisonment.
"There's
definitely a chance they [the lawyers] will get beaten," said
Teng. "That's something we are well-prepared for."
Chen
had been missing without his family or human rights campaigners knowing
his whereabouts, but Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, confirmed he had been
arrested. Police asked her to sign a document listing the charges
against him. They include accusations that he intended to destroy
public property and disrupt commerce and transport.
[base "]The
charges are groundless," Yuan told Asia News earlier this week.
The
charges come from a protest in his hometown in February against his
house arrest.
Chen,
who is blind and an attorney himself, had been organizing a class
action lawsuit against the city of Linyi at the time of his initial
arrest.
Chen
is credited with exposing a forced abortion and sterilization scandal
in Linyi where 7,000 women had been forcibly aborted or sterilized.
Anyone who attempted to flee was apprehended, beaten, and held hostage
in city prisons until their relatives came forward and paid large
fines for their release.
He
exposed the events in interviews with Time Magazine and the Washington
Post and local Linyi officials apprehended him shortly thereafter.
Chen's
freedom was restricted and he was arrested from a hiding place in
Beijing by Linyi officials who say he provided "intelligence"
to foreigners.
Chen
and his wife and 71 year-old mother were under house arrest beginning
in September last year. The officials cut his telephone lines and
used specialized equipment to prevent him from using his cell phone.
Chen
has been beaten twice when he's attempted to leave and attorneys and
supporters who have taken up Chen's case have been attacked as well.
Linyi
is a city of 10 million people 400 miles southeast of Beijing.
ACTION:
Contact China's embassy in the United States and encourage officials
there to help Chen Guangcheng. You can find contact information at
http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/sgxx/dfzygy/t44338.htm
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