Chinese Activist's Verdict Overturned

Blind activist Chen Guangcheng exposed forced abortions. (AP)

BEIJING, Nov. 1 -- Rights activists and lawyers on Wednesday hailed an overturned verdict in the case of a blind legal activist as a victory over corrupt officials in China.

"This is a success of the central party committee practicing rule of law," said Li Jinsong, lawyer for Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught legal activist blinded by a childhood illness. "This is a success of the Chinese people fighting against corrupt officials and safeguarding the dignity of law."

Chen and his supporters have been beaten, jailed and placed under house arrest since embarrassing local officials by exposing forced abortions and sterilizations in eastern Shandong province last year.

At his trial, conducted by Judge Wang Jun in Yinan County People's Court, Chen was deprived of his own legal counsel. He was sentenced in August to more than four years in prison for disrupting traffic and damaging property. Supporters said the charges were trumped up and noted that Chen was under guard or house arrest at the time of the incident in question.

Chen appealed his sentence to the Linyi City Intermediate Court, which decided Monday to overturn the verdict and send the case back to Yinan People's Court to be retried. That trial could come in about six weeks, lawyers said.

Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, said this week's decision "shows that there are some serious problems with the first trial" and said she believed authorities had been under great pressure to make concessions. Chen's case has garnered international attention. Diplomats have said the trial made a mockery of China's stated aim to improve the rule of law.

While Yuan said she was overjoyed by the developments, she also expressed caution about expectations for a second trial.

"It's really hard for me to predict the result of the retrial, because I'm still under house arrest," she said. "If I don't have freedom, villagers will still be under great pressure. If I don't have freedom, witnesses will not talk frankly in the court. If I don't have freedom, the case will not be judged justly."

Li, the lawyer, said he was optimistic.

"There is still hope for us," he said. "The current result shows that the first verdict was illegitimate, and the prosecution against Guangcheng has been effectively contaminated."

Researcher Jin Ling contributed to this report.