Lawyers for human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng prevented from meeting to prepare appeal

Sep 1 2006

Lawyers for human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng, who was arrested in China after trying to expose alleged human rights abuses associated with the enforcement of the country's one-child-per-family policy, on Wednesday said they were prevented from meeting with their client privately to prepare an appeal, the Washington Post reports (Fan, Washington Post, 8/31).

Chen last week was sentenced by a court in China's Shandong province to four years and three months in prison for "willfully damaging property" and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic."

The actions of which he was convicted occurred near his home in February and March. Chen recorded testimony from men and women in communities in and around China's Linyi province who have experienced forced abortions and sterilizations, as well as had family members captured and tortured after they tried to hide or run from authorities.

He was attempting to bring a class-action lawsuit against the Chinese government for alleged human rights abuses associated with the enforcement of the one-child policy.

The policy seeks to keep the country's population -- now 1.3 billion -- at about 1.7 billion by 2050. Ethnic minorities and farmers are the only groups legally exempt from the rule.

Chen in September 2005 was placed under house arrest for speaking with journalists, government officials and other advocates about the policy, and police formally arrested him in June for his attempts to challenge the policy.

His lawyers last week boycotted the trial after three of them were detained on allegations of theft and prohibited from counseling their client, according to one of the attorneys.

According to one of Chen's brothers, Chen on Aug. 18 was represented by two court-appointed attorneys who were unfamiliar with his case.

Chen had never met the two court-appointed attorneys and he objected to using them as representation, according to Li Fangping, one of Chen's attorneys.

One of Chen's brothers said that the two court-appointed lawyers did not object to anything said by prosecutors at the trial and that none of Chen's supporters at the trial were permitted to speak in support of him (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 8/25).

Li and other attorneys on Wednesday met with Chen to prepare an appeal, according to the Post.

However, the meeting ended after about 40 minutes because of pressure from the police and the trial judge, according to Li.

The attorneys were able to obtain Chen's fingerprint to approve the appeal, the Post reports (Washington Post, 8/31).