E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6 page 58 two cars. On 17 November at about 10pm, he was beaten outside the Chungling Hotel by six or seven persons in plainclothes, witnessed by a number of people in his tour group. He was beaten with an iron bar on the head and on his right leg, which was fractured from the knee upwards. He reported the beating about half an hour after the incident to the police and asked them for a record of the incident and to protect the evidence. They refused to do this. The police took him to Mao County hospital about one and a half hours away. He arrived there at midnight and stayed until 6am of 18 November. He was treated for his injuries there. He received 11 stitches for his head but the doctors there told him that they could not treat his leg. He was later taken to the orthopaedic hospital of the Chengdu army region, where he was at the time of the interview. Though he would not require surgery, he was told that he would have to remain there with his leg in a cast for two months. The police have indicated to him that one suspect has been located but has not been arrested. According to his investigations, approximately 80% of those detained are tortured in order to extract confessions, typically in the police station or at the brigade for criminal investigation. 15. In written comments of 25 January 2006, the Government provided the following information in relation to the above case: “On November 17, 2005, Zhao Xin was traveling with a tour group in Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan and lodged at the Qianglin Hotel in Mao County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province. During that time, Zhao and three other members of the tour group drank a great deal of alcohol in the hotel nightclub, there was a dispute with the hotel over the amount of the bill when it was time to pay, and he was assaulted by the nightclub manager and servers, leading to head injuries and multiple fractures in his kneecaps and ribs. Zhao sought inpatient treatment the following day in Chengdu’s August First Orthopedic Hospital. Following the incident, the public security bureau in Mao County, Sichuan immediately carried out an investigation and obtained evidence according to law and criminally detained those who caused the disturbance. Zhao is presently receiving treatment in the Chengdu hospital. This case is in the process of being handled further according to legal procedures. This case is completely the result of a commercial consumer dispute.” 16. Chen Guangcheng, aged 34, a self-taught lawyer, (telephone interview on 28 November 2005). Chen Guangcheng has been under “residential surveillance” (house arrest) since 6 September 2005 for exposing family planning violence in Linyi and providing legal aid to villagers who were to take legal action regarding these abuses against local authorities. His wife has also been prevented from leaving the house, and was once beaten when she came out to meet visitors. Their telephone line has been cut off and their computer confiscated. On 6 September 2005, Chen was detained in Beijing by police from Shandong Province, who took him back to Linyi and placed him under house arrest the following day. Since then, his house has reportedly been surrounded by up to 50 men and many cars; his landline and mobile phone services have been cut off, and his computer seized. On 4 October, law lecturer Xu Zhiyong, lawyer Li Fangping, and another lawyer attempted to visit Chen and negotiate with local officials to have his house arrest lifted. The lawyers were stopped on their way to the house. Chen reportedly managed to leave his house and spoke with them briefly, but was then forcibly taken back. When he resisted, he was beaten up by men surrounding his house. The lawyers tried to go to Chen’s house, but they were stopped and reportedly beaten up and taken to a police station where they were interrogated. They were told that the case now involved “state secrets” and escorted back to Beijing. On 10 October, Chen Guangcheng’s cousin Chen Guangli and another villager, also surnamed Chen, who had been giving interviews