Chinese Police Detain Wife of Rights Activist

Woman Dropped, Sobbing, Near Home

BEIJING, Nov. 28 -- The wife of a blind legal activist was detained by police for eight hours Tuesday, then dragged out of a police minivan and dropped on the ground at the entrance to her home village, sobbing uncontrollably, lawyers and a relative said.

Yuan Weijing was held a day after her husband was retried in a case closely watched by human rights activists. Attorneys for her husband, Chen Guangcheng, suggested that she had been detained so she could not travel to Beijing to complain about mistreatment of her family by officials.

Chen embarrassed authorities in eastern Shandong province last year by helping villagers prepare a class-action lawsuit against abuses, including forced abortions and sterilizations, meant to implement China's one-child-only policy.

He was later sentenced to more than four years in prison for disrupting traffic and damaging public property, charges his attorneys said were trumped up to punish him for his activism.

Chen appealed and on Monday was given a retrial, which is rare in China. No verdict was announced. While signing court documents Tuesday, he and his wife were permitted to speak to each other briefly, for the first time in eight months, lawyers said. Then Yinan County police presented a summons to Chen's attorneys and took Yuan away.

About 8:30 p.m., a shop owner at the entrance to the couple's village saw more than 10 police officers drag Yuan out of a small white van and drop her onto the ground crying, said Chen's older brother, Chen Guangfu.

She appeared to be in pain, Chen said, but it was unclear Tuesday night whether Yuan had been beaten. She was taken to a nearby hospital to be examined.

Yuan has been detained three times before but has never returned home this distressed, Chen said, adding, "She just won't stop crying."

A man on duty at the criminal police battalion of the Yinan County police station said he did not know whether Yuan had been detained. "I've never heard of it. I don't know," he said.

At the hospital, Yuan later declared, "The police are bandits," Chen Guangfu said.

Yuan has spoken out publicly against local authorities and criticized the conduct of her husband's trial.

In an opinion column last month in The Washington Post, she said she was being watched constantly by guards.

"I want to send a message to my husband: One day the truth will come to light," she wrote. "Even though they put you in jail, they cannot imprison your thoughts and spirit. You must take good care of yourself so that you can continue your unfinished work."

Researcher Jin Ling contributed to this report.