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BEIJING - The nephew of blind activist Chen Guangcheng has beendenied his family's choice of lawyers to defend a charge of"intentional homicide" in what one said was an attempt tomanipulate a trial that has focused world attention on China'shuman rights. The decision by police in Yinan in northeastern Shandong provinceis the latest in a series of moves to deny Chen Kegui legalrepresentation and underscores the hardline stance taken againstthe family of Chen Guangcheng. Chen Guangcheng's escape from house arrest last month andsubsequent refuge in the U.S. embassy caused huge embarrassment forChina and led to a diplomatic crisis in Sino-U.S. relations. The ruling Communist Party has always been wary of lawyers, whoofficials suspect could challenge its power through their advocacyof the rule of law. Authorities have frequently sought to preventlawyers from taking up politically sensitive cases by suspendingtheir licences or threatening them. Chen Kegui, in his early 30s, could face the death penalty if foundguilty of using knives to fend off local officials who burst intohis home on April 27, the day after they discovered his blind unclehad escaped house arrest. Police told Ding Xikui, one of his team of lawyers, that Chen Keguihad been appointed two lawyers from the Yinan government-run legalaid centre, Ding told Reuters by telephone from Shandong. "They told us: 'According to Chinese law, a criminal suspect canonly be commissioned two lawyers. Two have been assigned to him, soboth of you can't be his lawyers'," said Ding, who representedjailed Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo at his 2009 subversion trial. "NO REAL DEFENCE" Police and the legal aid centre in Yinan were not immediatelyavailable for comment. "This shows that the authorities in Linyi and the forces behind itare attempting to manipulate the case behind the scenes," saidJiang Tianyong, one of the members of the legal team of more than adozen lawyers who have volunteered to defend Chen Kegui. "Chen Kegui will not be able to get a real defence, and the outsideworld will not be able to know the progress of the case," he said."In this way, the fate of Chen Kegui will entirely be up to theauthorities." Another of Chen Kegui's lawyers, Si Weijiang, said he called theYinan legal aid centre, which told him "they have no idea about thecase". In recent weeks, Chinese authorities have thwarted plans by otherlawyers to meet Chen Kegui and warned others not to get involved,according to lawyer Liu Weiguo. No family member or lawyer has been allowed to see Chen Kegui, whois held in a detention centre in Yinan, making the lawyers feel"powerless", Si said. Chen Guangcheng said on Friday that authorities in Shandong hadthreatened his elder brother, Chen Guangfu, saying that they wouldincrease Chen Kegui's sentence if Chen Guangfu accepts mediainterviews. In a videotaped interview with Hong Kong online magazine iSunAffairs uploaded on Wednesday, Chen Guangfu described his tortureby plainclothes men after Chen Guangcheng's escape. The United States has appealed to China to let Chen Guangchengtravel to the United States to study. He said he applied for apassport on Wednesday and that he should get a reply within 15days. Chen Guangcheng earlier told Reuters that his nephew was the victimof vengeance by officials incensed at the blind dissident's escape. "They're simply thugs," said Liu Weiguo, when asked why he thoughtthe authorities had denied Chen Kegui access to the two lawyers."They're doing this to cover up the truth about the persecution ofChen Guangcheng.". I am an expert from food-additivesingredients.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Food Additives Ingredients , Food Additives Sweeteners, Food Additives Thickeners,and more.
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