Prominent Chinese activist blasts nephew'sconviction UPDATED: Dec 1, 201207:51 GMT Prominent human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng told CNN on Friday the conviction of his nephew in China was retribution for Chen's escape from house arrest and move to the United States. The People's Court of Yinan County in Shandong Province on Friday convicted Chen Kegui, the nephew, of "intentional infliction of injury" during a clash with local officials in his home, said Chen Kegui's father, Chen Guangfu. The nephew was sentenced to more than three years in prison. He was arrested in early May in Linyi, a city in Shandong where much of thefamily lives, shortly after his uncle escaped more than18 months of heavily guarded house arrest and fled to Beijing. The family has maintained that Chen Kegui injured a few officials with a kitchen knife in self-defense, when they broke into his house inthe middle of the night and attacked his family. Chen Guangfu told CNN that "the verdict was unfair" and thathe feels "really disappointed" about it. "Kegui was just defending himself," his father said,"and it was them breaking into our house and started beating us and trying to take us away." Chen Guangcheng, in an interview with CNN's RichardRoth in New York, said authorities in China want to perpetuate fear. "With regard to Chen Kegui, the way that they have handled his case ... in fact this is just the continuation of my own case," the activist said. "With this sentence, Chen Kegui is being made a scapegoat for my situation. Because beforethis, they tried many times to provoke me, but I didn't fall for their trick." Authorities in China promised to guarantee the safety of his family and to open an investigation into"the harm

Prominent Chinese activist blasts nephew'sconviction UPDATED: Dec 1, 201207:51 GMT Prominent human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng told CNN on Friday the conviction of his nephew in China was retribution for Chen's escape from house arrest and move to the United States. The People's Court of Yinan County in Shandong Province on Friday convicted Chen Kegui, the nephew, of "intentional infliction of injury" during a clash with local officials in his home, said Chen Kegui's father, Chen Guangfu. The nephew was sentenced to more than three years in prison. He was arrested in early May in Linyi, a city in Shandong where much of thefamily lives, shortly after his uncle escaped more than18 months of heavily guarded house arrest and fled to Beijing. The family has maintained that Chen Kegui injured a few officials with a kitchen knife in self-defense, when they broke into his house inthe middle of the night and attacked his family. Chen Guangfu told CNN that "the verdict was unfair" and thathe feels "really disappointed" about it. "Kegui was just defending himself," his father said,"and it was them breaking into our house and started beating us and trying to take us away." Chen Guangcheng, in an interview with CNN's RichardRoth in New York, said authorities in China want to perpetuate fear. "With regard to Chen Kegui, the way that they have handled his case ... in fact this is just the continuation of my own case," the activist said. "With this sentence, Chen Kegui is being made a scapegoat for my situation. Because beforethis, they tried many times to provoke me, but I didn't fall for their trick." Authorities in China promised to guarantee the safety of his family and to open an investigation into"the harm