Soon after self-taught lawyer Chen Guangcheng escaped from illegal house arrest, local officials entered the house of his nephew, Chen Kegui, without any notice or warrent. Chen Kegui lashed out with a kitchen knife, then ran away. None of the officials he injured died, but Chen Kegui, now in custody, is charged with attempted murder. [Chen Guangcheng spoke out about his brother’s and nephew’s situation upon his arrival in New York.]
Si Weijiang, one of Chen Kegui’s lawyers, reflected on the family’s situation in a May 25 Weibo post:
@Siweijiang: Chen’s house in Yinan County was truly miserable. After all that trouble, one man breaks out of jail and another is thrown in. The light of the law never shone on them. It was this way in 2006. Surprisingly, it’s still this way in 2012. Could it be that in south Linyi, all you have to do is stick out your neck and they cut off your head? Where is the constitution’s rule of law? Where are the human rights in the criminal procedure law? The photo is of my client Liu Fang [Chen Kegui’s wife].
@斯伟江：沂南陈家一门真是惨烈。好不容易一个男性成员逃出生天，结果又另一个男性成员又进去了。法律的阳光从来照不到他们，2006年如此，2012年居然仍是如此。难道在沂南就只能引颈就屠？《宪法》的依法治国在哪里？刑诉法的人权又在哪里？图为我的委托人刘芳
That same day, Global Times Chief Editor Hu Xijin shared acerbic commentary on the U.S. State Department’s 2011 Human Rights Report, released May 24:
@HuXijin: The U.S. Human Rights Report says China is a “dictatorship,” and furthermore states that China’s human rights “continues to deteriorate.” I fiercely oppose this report. The United States stares only at China’s very few “dissidents” as if they were the standard for China’s human rights. The United States won’t even consider the progress of the Chinese people, pretending as if the diverse developments of Chinese society didn’t exist. Manipulation of human rights in order to discredit China is the diplomatic chess game the U.S. plays. Those who post on Weibo for America, hehe, you have the right to do this.
@胡锡进： 美国人权报告称中国是“独裁国家”，并称中国人权“继续恶化”。强烈反对这一报告。美国只盯着中国的极少数“异见人士”，他们就是中国人权标准呵。美对中国民生进步看都不看一眼，对中国社会多元化发展视而不见。搞人权抹黑就是美国的对华外交博弈手段。微博上为美国报告站台者，呵呵，你们有这权利。
Hu later commented on his own post, alluding to a Reuters photo of Chen Kegui’s father, Chen Guangfu, demonstrating how he was tied to a chair and tortured in his home:
@HuXijin: America is always casting out the fundamentals of China’s progress on human rights and focusing the discussion on China’s individual cases. So China’s few “dissident figures” are always singled out by the U.S. and become the “representative image” of Chinese human rights. These stories fit more easily into the Western package. As a propaganda technique, individual cases are more attractive. This can fool a Western audience, and now it’s also fooling a lot of Chinese people. After Brother Sunglasses played Sunglasses Fugitive, how did they tie you to the chair?
@ 胡锡进：美国总是抛开中国人权进步的基本面，集中讨论中国的个案。所以中国的几个“异见人士”总是被美国挑出来，作为中国人权的“形象代表”，他们的故事做了更容易打动西方人的包装。从宣传技巧上讲，个案也更吸引人。这能蒙住西方公众，现在也蒙了中国国内不少人呵。墨镜大哥演示当墨镜逃跑后，他如何被绑在椅子上的姿势
Via SneezeBloid. Translation by Deng Bolun.
