In
2005, he became internationally known for organizing a class-action lawsuit
against the city of Linyi in Shandong for excessive enforcement of the
one-child policy. As a result of this lawsuit, Chen was placed under house
arrest from September 2005 to March 2006, with a formal arrest in June 2006.
During his trial, Chen's attorneys were forbidden access to the court, leaving
him without a proper defender. On 24 August 2006, Chen was sentenced to four
years and three months for "damaging property and organising a mob to
disturb traffic".
Chen
was released from prison on 8 September 2010 after serving his full sentence,
but remained under house arrest or "soft detention" at his home in
Dongshigu Village (东师古村). Chen and his wife were
reportedly beaten shortly after a human rights group released a video of their
home under intense police surveillance on 9 February 2011.
Chen's
case received sustained international attention, with the U.S. State
Department, the British Foreign Secretary, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty
International issuing appeals for his release; the latter group designated him
a prisoner of conscience. Chen is a 2007 laureate of the Ramon Magsaysay Award
and in 2006 was named to the Time 100.
On
22 April 2012, Chen escaped his house arrest and was reported to have fled to
the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Early Life
Chen
hails from the small village of Dongshigu, Shandong province, approximately
200km from the city of Jinan. Due to a severe fever, Chen lost his sight at an
early age. He was illiterate until 1994 when he was enrolled by Qingdao High
School for the Blind and graduated in 1998. In that time, Chen had already
begun developing an interest in the law, and enlisted his brothers to read legal
texts for him. He then studied in Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine from
1998 to 2001, specializing in acupuncture and massage. After graduation he
returned to his home region and found a job as a masseur in the hospital of
Yinan county. Nonetheless, he managed to audit law classes, and learned enough
to aid his fellow villagers when they sought his assistance.
From : www.wikipedia.org
