BREAKING NEWS

Blind activist pans China on nephew's case

BEIJING - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng said on Saturday the authorities' drive to manipulate his nephew's case would not succeed, but instead would increase public discontent over an episode that has renewed international focus on China's human rights and legal system.
Chen Guangcheng's nephew, Chen Kegui, was denied his family's choice of lawyers on Friday to defend a charge of "intentional homicide", the latest in a series of moves to deny him legal representation, and underscores the hardline stance taken against Chen Guangcheng's family.
Chen Guangcheng's escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent refuge in the US embassy caused huge embarrassment for China, and led to a serious diplomatic rift between the two superpowers while US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing.
Police told Chen Kegui's lawyers that he had been appointed two lawyers from the Yinan government-run legal aid center, though officials at the center said they have no knowledge of the case.