Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- Chen Guangcheng, the blind attorney who is one of the leading opponents of the population control program in China, was not allowed an early release from prison on medical grounds. Chen has been in prison on a bogus four-year sentence on trumped up charges after he spoke out against the program.

Chen interviewed with major western media outlets about a forced abortion campaign in Linyi which saw thousands of women punished for violating the one-child policy.

Chen's wife Yuan Weijing says her husband has been suffering from an acute case of diarrhea for several months and she pleaded with Chinese officials to release him from prison.

"Our lawyer wrote to the prison asking for a medical assessment and for permission to seek medical treatment overseas," Yuan told Radio free Asia. "But they never replied, although they didn't refuse either. There was simply no response."

Officials continued to prohibit Yuan from visiting her husband during the traditional Lunar New Year holiday.

"They wouldn't let me visit him, and I got very upset and started crying," Yuan said. "I said that they had no idea what I was going through, and how hard it was to get by just on the strength of knowing that today I would see him, and not only did they not help me, but they seemed to be hindering me, even though they know that he is sick."

Instead, they are beating Chen for supposed disobedience, which Yuan tells RFA is related to his decision to appeal the bogus property destruction sentence to an appeals court.

In 1996, local officials used bogus hearings, where his attorneys were prevented from attending, to convict Chen on charges he destroyed property during a protest he never attended.

Chen was given four years and three months' imprisonment for "damaging public property and obstructing traffic."

Yuan has been under house arrest or intense surveillance during the entire time he has been in jail.

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