Beijing: Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, one of the China's most prominent human rights advocates, has escaped from home imprisonment, activists said yesterday, but uncertainty over his whereabouts and fears about his health have worried supporters.
Chen, a self-schooled legal advocate who campaigned against forced abortions, had been restricted to his village home in Linyi in eastern Shandong province since September 2010 when he was released from jail.
His confinement and relentless surveillance with his family fanned protests by Chinese sympathisers and criticism from foreign governments and activist groups.
Bob Fu, president of the Texas-based religious and political rights advocacy group ChinaAid, said in a statement that Chen was in Beijing and "100 per cent safe".
"There is speculation that Chen is in the US Embassy in Beijing," the group added. The US Embassy and China's Foreign Ministry both said they had no immediate comment.
Investigation
In a video posted on YouTube, Chen confirmed he had escaped, and asked Premier Wen Jiabao to order an investigation in the maltreatment of him and his family by local officials.
"It was not at all easy, but I have escaped," he said in the video. "Everything that was said on the internet about the violence directed against me by Linyi, I'm here to say that it was all true."
Chen did not say where he was nor what his plans were.
"I want Premier Wen to open a probe into this corrupt behaviour. The money paid by the people in taxes should not be wasted by corrupt local officials to hurt us," he added.
While Reuters was not able to authenticate the video, there was scant doubt it was Chen, wearing his trademark dark glasses and speaking in his halting, Shandong-accented Mandarin Chinese.
Fu earlier said in a telephone interview that Chen's wife, daughter and mother were still at the family's village home, which was surrounded by authorities after they discovered Chen had disappeared.
"The entire village and government leaders were stunned by the developments when Chen Guangcheng was not found. So they are surrounding his home," he said.
Another activist, He Peirong, told Reuters that Chen had talked with her.
"His spirits are okay, but he is passing blood and is very weak," she said. "His hands won't stop shaking."
She said Chen was worried about his family.
