Chinese activist 'broke his own neck'

Fu Xiancai, an activist who campaigned for the rights of farmers displaced by China's Three Gorges Dam, and who was left paralysed after an attack last month, broke his own neck - at least, that is the conclusion reached in a report by local police investigators.

Mr Fu said he was set upon as he walked home from a police interrogation on 8 June. He had been summoned by the Public Security Bureau in his home county of Zigui because officials, including the local police chief Wang Qiankui, were furious about an interview he had given to German television.

In the interview, he said he was being harassed by the local police for trying to complain about inadequate compensation for those dispossessed by the dam.

Mr Fu said an unknown assailant attacked him and left him unconscious on the roadside. He has regained only the use of his arms.

In its report, the Public Security Bureau in Zigui said it had found no footprints other than those of Fu Xiancai at the scene. "No injury was found being caused by someone else; therefore, no case can be established," ran the report.

His family has questioned the fairness of the inquiry, as members of the investigating team were also involved in the reported campaign of harassment.