HUMAN RIGHTS: BLIND ACTIVIST CHARGED WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 012177

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/13/2031
TAGS: PHUM PREL CH
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS: BLIND ACTIVIST CHARGED WITH
DESTROYING PROPERTY AND DISRUPTING TRAFFIC

REF: A. A) BEIJING 5224


B. B) BEIJING 10904 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission David Sedney.
Reasons 1.4 (b/d).


1. (C) Summary: Blind legal activist and family
planning whistleblower Chen Guangcheng has been
formally charged with intentionally destroying public
property and inciting a mass traffic jam. The charges
and Chen's transfer to the Shandong Province Yinan
County detention center end nearly three months of
legal limbo after Chen's March 11 disappearance, his
wife told poloff. Chen's lawyer says the charges are
trumped up, stemming from Chen's efforts to flag down
a car and report to police in a neighboring town that
thugs beat one of his supporters (reftels). But the
lawyer fears authorities will move quickly to convict
Chen on the charges, with a jail term of three to
seven years. The DCM protested the detention to MFA
International Organizations Director General Wu
Hailong. End Summary.


2. (C) Legal activist Chen Guangcheng was formally
detained on charges of intentionally destroying public
property and inciting a mass traffic jam, according to
an arrest notice that Shandong Province, Linyi City
public security officials provided to his wife June

10. Chen was formally detained and charged at 9 a.m.
on June 10, according to his wife Yuan Weiqing and his
brother Chen Guangfu, who separately telephoned and
sent text messages to poloff relaying this
information. Chen Guangcheng is being held in the
Yinan County detention center, the notice said.

A Blind Man Causes A Traffic Jam?
--------------


3. (C) The charges against Chen stem from a March 11
incident in which one of Chen's supporters was beaten
and sought the legal advocate's help, his Beijing-
based attorney Jiang Tianyong told poloff. When Chen
and the supporter attempted to flag down a vehicle to
take them to a neighboring town and report the
beating, the thugs interfered. Alarmed that a blind
man was being manhandled, passersby got out of their
cars and objected, creating a traffic jam. In the
ensuing fracas, a taxi's window was broken. It should
be obvious that a blind man could not have legal
responsibility for destroying property or causing a
traffic jam in such a situation, Jiang said.


4. (C) Jiang said he views filing of formal charges as
an indication that local authorities have marshaled
their evidence and will soon bring Chen's case to
trial. Authorities failed in their attempts to charge
Chen with leaking "state secrets" or providing "state
intelligence," Jiang said, but they will nonetheless
use the current charges as an attempt to silence Chen.
As a matter of Chinese law, Chen should be sentenced
to a jail term of less than three years, Jiang said,
but serious cases of destroying property can net a
seven-year sentence. Jiang or his associates will
travel to Shandong Province this week to file a motion
to represent Chen and to see him in custody.

Embassy Protests Formal Charges
--------------


5. (C) On June 13, the DCM conveyed USG concern about
the charges filed against Chen to MFA Director General
for International Organizations Wu Hailong. The DCM
expressed concern that local authorities are seeking
revenge against Chen for exposing family planning
violations in Shandong Province, even though a Central
Government investigation subsequently found that
serious violations had occurred. DG Wu said the
matter was an internal Chinese one and that relevant
authorities would handle it according to law. The DCM
urged the Central Government to ensure that local
authorities properly implement the law and pressed
China to release Chen.
RANDT