China police formally arrest blind activist

SHANGHAI, June 24 (Reuters) Chinese police have formally arrested a blind activist who campaigned against coercive family planning, his wife said today.

Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught legal expert in the eastern province of Shandong, drew international attention last year after accusing Linyi city officials of enforcing late-term abortions and sterilisations. He was detained in March.

His family received official notice from county public security by registered mail today, saying Chen faced charges of deliberately destroying public property and assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic.

''I'm feeling scared. I don't like to imagine what sort of conditions he's living in,'' his wife Yuan Weijing told Reuters by telephone.

''Chen told his lawyer, Li Jinsong, that he was told he must admit to these crimes. Now that he's been arrested, it's quite likely he will be sentenced.'' The letter, dated June 21, said Chen was being held in the Yinan county detention centre in Shandong. Chen educated himself in law to press his rights as a disabled citizen. He gained a nationwide profile when he broadened his demands to include farmers' rights.

On Monday Chinese lawyers and civil rights campaigners cancelled a news conference seeking Chen's release, after plain-clothes police prevented some from leaving their homes and others received warnings not to attend.

REUTERS SHB PC1555