MCLC: Chen Guangcheng escapes house arrest (1,2)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: anne henochowicz (annemh at alumni.upenn.edu)
Subject: Chen Guangcheng escapes house arrest (1)
****************************************************************

Boxun has released a video of Chen Guangcheng testifying about his house
arrest and escape: 
http://boxun.com/news/gb/china/2012/04/201204271437.shtml


An English translation of Chen's text is also available here:
http://sjreporter.blogspot.com/2012/04/chen-guangcheng-addresses-premier-we
n.html

Anne

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From: martin winter (dujuan99 at gmail.com
Subject: Chen Guangcheng escapes house arrest (2)

Source: Enter the News Dragon (4/28/12):
http://sjreporter.blogspot.com/2012/04/chen-guangcheng-addresses-premier-we
n.html

Chen Guangcheng addresses Premier Wen (English translation)

Dear Premier Wen Jiabao,

I finally escaped. All the stories online about the brutal treatment I
received from the Linyi authorities, I can personally testify they are
true. The reality is even harsher than the stories that have been
circulating.

Premier Wen, I hereby formally make the following three requests.

First, I would like you to personally intervene in this matter by sending
an investigation team to find out the truth. Those who ordered
county-level police and officials to break into my house, beat and hurt
me, refused me medical attention -- without any legal foundation or
officers wearing uniforms -- whoever made the decision has to be
investigated and punished according to law. Their actions are so cruel it
has greatly harmed the image of the Communist Party.

They broke into my house and more than a dozen men assaulted my wife. They
pinned her down and wrapped her in a blanket, beating and kicking her for
hours. They also violently assaulted me. Zhang Jian... many of county
policemen whom we know like He Yong, Zhang Shengdong... and the men who
repeatedly beat my wife before my release from prison like Li Xianli, Li
Xianqiang, Gao Xinjian, etc. -- they all have to be seriously dealt with.
There is another man whose family name is Xue.

As an affected party, I hereby accuse them of the following crimes: When
they came to my house to assault us, Zhang Jian, the deputy Party
secretary in charge of law enforcement in Shuanghou township, said to me
unequivocally: "We don't care about the law and we are ignoring the law --
what can you do about it?" He repeated led people to my home to attack and
rob us.

Li Xianli, who heads Team 1 that illegally confined me in my house,
repeatedly beat my wife -- once even pulling her off a car to assault her.
He also beat my mother. Simply monstrous. Li Xianqiang, an official with
the township's judicial authority, beat my wife last year, gravely
injuring her left arm.

The man who guarded the village entrance and attacked Christian Bale -- I
understand his name is Zhang Shenghe, an official with our township. He is
the so-called "Military Coat" (or "Pandaman") in netizen's descriptions.
Last February, he also hurled rocks at the CNN team. It was him -- no
mistake -- I know that.

I also heard some netizens were assaulted by female guards. At first I
didn't know there were female guards. Then I learned those so-called
female goons were woman's affairs chiefs from surrounding villages or
their families.

Then there is Gao Xinjian and many others whose names I don't know. I know
they come from the police force, even though they don't wear uniforms and
denied to be policemen. I asked them who they were and they scoffed: "We
are sent by the Party and we work for the Party." I don't believe them. At
most they work for a corrupt official within the Party.

>From what I learned, other than various officials, each team guarding me
has more than 20 people. They have three teams with a total of 70 to 80
people. When more netizens tried to visit me recently, they had several
hundred people at one time and completely sealed off my village.

Starting with my home, they station a team inside the house and another
one outside guarding the four corners. Further out, they block every road
leading to my house, all the way to the village entrance. They even have 7
to 8 people guarding bridges in neighboring villages. These corrupt
officials draw people from neighboring villages into this and they have
cars patrolling areas within a five-kilometer radius of my village.

Besides all these layers of security around my house -- I think there are
7 to 8 layers -- they have also numbered all the roads leading to my
village, going up to 28 with guards assigned to them daily. The whole
situation is just so over the top. I understand the number of officials
and policemen who participate in my persecution adds up to some 100
people. They repeatedly hurt us illegally and I demand a thorough
investigation.

Second, although I'm free, my worries are only deepening. My wife, mother
and children are still in their evil hands. They have been persecuting my
family for a long time and my escape would only prompt them into a mode of
revenge. Such retribution would only become worse.

They once broke my wife's left orbital bone. She suffers lumbar disc
protrusion from all the beating and there are still lumps on her ribs due
to physical assaults. She has been cruelly denied medical treatment.

My elderly mother, on her birthday, was pushed to the ground with her head
hitting the door. She was crying and accused them of attacking an old
woman. They scoffed: "It's true we're young and that's why you can't beat
us." How shameless, how cruel and how unjust.

My child goes to school accompanied by three guards. They search her bag
every day and stop her from leaving school ground or home.

>From July 29 to December 14 last year, they cut off power to my house.
>From last February onward, they have barred my mother from going out to
buy groceries, making our lives extremely difficult.

I am very worried. I implore netizens to pay more attention to my family
to ensure their safety. I also implore the Chinese government to ensure
the safety of my family based on the principles of upholding the rule of
law and protecting the interest of the people. If anything is to happen to
my family, I will pursue this issue to no end.

Third, many people wonder why my situation has dragged on for so long
without a resolution. I can say this: It's because the local authorities
-- the decision-makers and the enforcers -- have no intention of resolving
this. For the decision-makers, they are afraid of their crimes being
exposed. For the enforcers, there is a lot of corruption involved.

I remember when they humiliated me last August in the Cultural
Revolutionary style, they told me, you said in your video that 30 million
yuan was spent on (your house arrest), that was the 2008 figure -- now the
amount is more than double that and that's not even including bribery
money for officials in Beijing. Some of the hired guards have complained
that they make so little since most of the money has gone to others.

It's been a great opportunity for all of them to make money. As I
understand, the township gives team leaders money to hire guards and each
guard is supposed to get 100 yuan per day. Those team leaders tell
potential hires that they get only 90 of the 100 yuan. Since most farmers
get 50 to 60 yuan working in the field, and the guard job is considered
safe and comfortable with meals included, of course people are willing to
take it. In just one team, with more than 20 guards, the team leader gets
200 yuan extra per day. How corrupt is that?

The leader of the guards watching my wife sells vegetables he grows to the
teams for a profit. These things are well known but there's nothing
ordinary people can do about them.

As for the "stability maintenance" budget, they told us the county would
give the township several million yuan at a time and local officials would
still complain how little they get. You can see the serious corruption
involved in this process and how they abuse money and power.

Premier Wen, I would like to see you investigate and punish those corrupt
officials who squander our taxpayer money on harming innocent people as
well as the Party's image. When they commit despicable crimes, they always
claim they are doing what the Party has asked them to.

Premier Wen, all those illegal actions have baffled many people -- is it
just local officials flagrantly violating the law or do they have the
support of the central government? I hope you will give the public a clear
answer in the near future. If we have a thorough investigation into my
case and announce the result, I think people would appreciate. If you
continue to ignore me, what would the public think?