Worried for my relatives in China, says Chen
Blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng says he fears the Chinese government may retaliate against friends and relatives who helped him escape from house arrest.
"Of course, I'm very worried. We can see their retribution against my family since my escape has continued and been intensified," Chen told CNN in his first TV interview since arriving in the US on Saturday.
His nephew, Chen Kegui, was arrested for attempted murder after his escape. Chen Kegui's father, who is Chen Guangcheng's brother, has also fled his village to Beijing.
Chen Kegui is accused of slashing at officers when they arrived at his house at night without identifying themselves after police discovered that Chen Guangcheng had escaped from home detention in his village in Shandong Province.
Asked about speaking out against China, Chen, a self-taught lawyer, told CNN, "It was natural for me, it was very natural for me. I feel it's in people's nature to want to stop evil and embrace the good."
His experience of being under house arrest in China, he said, brought much suffering.
"It's hard for me to describe what it was like during that time. But let's just say that my suffering was beyond imagination."
In 2006, he was sentenced to more than four years in prison after he accused authorities in Linyi county of forcing up to 7,000 women to undergo late-term abortions or sterilizations.
He was placed under house arrest upon his release in September 2010.
He escaped house detention last month by scaling the walls at night and somehow managed to reach the US embassy. After six days at the embassy, Chen spent two weeks at a Beijing hospital before being allowed to go to New York.
Source: Blind Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng says he fears the Chinese government may retaliate against friends and relatives who helped him escape from house arrest.
"Of course, I'm very worried. We can see their retribution against my family since my escape has continued and been intensified," Chen told CNN in his first TV interview since arriving in the US on Saturday.
His nephew, Chen Kegui, was arrested for attempted murder after his escape. Chen Kegui's father, who is Chen Guangcheng's brother, has also fled his village to Beijing.
Chen Kegui is accused of slashing at officers when they arrived at his house at night without identifying themselves after police discovered that Chen Guangcheng had escaped from home detention in his village in Shandong Province.
Asked about speaking out against China, Chen, a self-taught lawyer, told CNN, "It was natural for me, it was very natural for me. I feel it's in people's nature to want to stop evil and embrace the good."
His experience of being under house arrest in China, he said, brought much suffering.
"It's hard for me to describe what it was like during that time. But let's just say that my suffering was beyond imagination."
In 2006, he was sentenced to more than four years in prison after he accused authorities in Linyi county of forcing up to 7,000 women to undergo late-term abortions or sterilizations.
He was placed under house arrest upon his release in September 2010.
He escaped house detention last month by scaling the walls at night and somehow managed to reach the US embassy. After six days at the embassy, Chen spent two weeks at a Beijing hospital before being allowed to go to New York.
Source: China News.Net
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