Chen Guangcheng, the noted activist from Shandong, published an essay in the New York Times this Tuesday to give his opinions on the current legal conditions in China. He urges the CCP and Chinese government to look into the “lawless punishment inflicted on me and my family over the past seven years”:
SINCE I arrived in the United States on May 19, people have asked me, “What do you want to do here?” I have come here to study temporarily, not to seek political asylum. And while I pursue my studies, I hope that the Chinese government and the Communist Party will conduct a thorough investigation of the lawless punishment inflicted on me and my family over the past seven years.
He mentions how his brother and nephew were tortured by an unidentified group of people after his escape. His nephew, Chen Kegui, is now facing charges of attempted homicide, which Chen Guangcheng believes are absurdly fabricated. Chen wants the central government keep its promise to investigate the case and calls for supervision from the United States and other democratic countries:
I asked for such an investigation while I was hospitalized in Beijing, after I had left the refuge of the United States Embassy and American officials negotiated my reunification with my family. High officials from the Chinese government assured me that a thorough and public investigation would take place and that they would inform me of the results. I hope that this promise will be honored. But the government has often failed to fulfill similar commitments. I urge the government and people of the United States and other democratic countries to insist that the Chinese government make timely progress in this matter.
Read more about Chen Guangcheng, his escape from house arrest, and his journey to the U.S., where he now resides in Greenwich Village in New York while attending classes at New York University.
