In a stunning move, an appeals court has overturned the guilty verdict of activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng. Chen was sentenced to four years in prison this past summer after launching a crusade against the forced sterilization of peasant women. Local officials had ordered the sterilizations as well as forced abortions in an effort to meet population growth targets for their districts. Chen sued and organized demonstrations against the policies. Within weeks he was under house arrest. Then he was taken into custody. 10 months later, he was on trial for ‘distrubing the peace’ and ‘inciting unrest.’ Oh yeah, did I mention that Chen has been blind since childhood?
Mr. Chen’s first trial was widely condemned as a travesty. Beijing-based lawyers whom Mr. Chen chose to defend him were harassed before the trial and then barred from the hearing. The court assigned Mr. Chen two local attorneys who introduced no evidence, called no witnesses and did not contest the charges against him.
It is unclear why an appeals court in Linyi, which is the same urban area where local officials ordered the crackdown on Mr. Chen, would decide to overturn the verdict against him.
It is possible that higher authorities