More than three years after blind Chinese rights activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States after a daring escape from house arrest at his hometown in the eastern province of Shandong, the abuse he highlighted by family planning officials still continues.

A resident of Yishui county near Chen's hometown of Linyi city, Li Fudong, said family planning officials from Yishui's Daotuo township had beaten two of his family members after accusing him and his wife of an "excess birth" last month.

Li said his second wife had given birth to a son after marrying him, although they had two children between them from previous relationships, leading officials to fine them 170,000 yuan (U.S. $26,750) for an "excess birth."

When the couple fled their home village after they were unable to pay, officials detained Li's mother-in-law Chen Fanrong and beat up his father-in-law Gong Peilong, in a bid to put pressure on them to hand over the money.

"Officials from the township government took my mother-in-law away and held her for six days," Li said. "After she came back, they took my father-in-law away and kept my mother-in-law under surveillance, then beat up my father-in-law."

"They made my mother-in-law kneel down and demanded the money," he said.

"At that time, they demanded 45,000 yuan (U.S. $7,100), and the next day, they beat up my father-in-law; on Aug. 13, they beat [him] unconscious," Li said.

"My mother-in-law was admitted to hospital for a week after that."

According to Li Fudong, Chen was kept in unbearably high temperatures when in illegal detention, deprived of sleep, and denied her regular blood pressure medication.

And when Gong reported the beating to the police, they said it "was inconvenient" to deal with it as an attack because it was carried out by the government, Li added.

more Family Planning Abuses Continue in China's Shandong Province