BEIJING — Local police have recommended that a nephew of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng be indicted over a scuffle with officials after the blind legal advocate's dramatic escape from house arrest, a friend of Chen's said Saturday. Chen's escape in April set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington before he was allowed to go to New York, where he is studying English and law and writing a memoir, said New York University law professor Jerome Cohen. Chen's nephew Chen Kegui, 32, has been detained in China since May, accused of attacking local officials. The family says Chen Kegui acted in self-defense when the officials stormed into his house looking for his uncle and beat up his parents. Cohen said Chen Kegui's family told him that prosecutors in Yinan county in eastern China's Shandong province had informed them that police recommended charges of “intentional infliction of injury.” The initial charge was the more serious attempted murder. Cohen said that prosecutors are highly likely to follow the police recommendation and that Kegui has slim chances of getting a fair trial. — AP
