 Blind Chinese dissident Chen takes a break in a city park in New York (ANDREW BURTON, Reuters / May 22, 2012) |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng, who flew to the United States last week, said on Thursday China's handling of the local officials who harassed and abused him and his family will determine whether the country can begin to achieve rule of law.
"If authorities can promptly investigate and prosecute those lawless officials who broke China's laws, then possibly China can rather quickly move onto the road of rule of law," Chen told Reuters in an interview.
Chen said the rough treatment of his family and supporters who helped him escape illegal house arrest in Shandong province last month was "entirely against Chinese law" because he was a free person who had already served a jail sentence.
"What was wrong with me going outside?" he said.
Chen said he remained "generally optimistic" about how his case and that of his family would work out -- in part because of the intense attention paid to him by American and Chinese people on the Internet.
The 40-year-old Chen escaped Shandong's Dongshigu village in late April after 19 months of detention at home, taking refuge in the U.S. embassy, where he stayed for six days and sparked a diplomatic crisis between China and the United States.
That crisis was finally defused on Saturday when China allowed Chen to fly to the United States to study at New York University School of Law.
Chen said he had spent his first few days preparing for his studies, doing basic shopping and acquiring a mobile phone.
(Writing by Paul Eckert; Editing by Anthony Boadle)
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