Three Gorges Damn

Chinese investigators say activist Fu Xiancai, who was paralyzed after a severe beating, inflicted the blows himself, according to a Human Rights in China (HRIC). Mr. Fu has been a noted critic of the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei Province, and a fierce defender of peasants displaced by the project. Investigators for the government had failed to find anyone else's footprints at the scene of the attack, and had concluded that he must have hit himself. The blow to the back of his neck was so severe that three of his vertebrae were broken, HRIC said.

Investigators later determined that Mr. Fu also hooked up his nuts to a car battery, causing extensive burns in a 'sensitive area' and had ripped his own fingernails out with a set of rusty pliers, later found wiped clean of fingerprints.

HRIC said it was strongly concerned about the independence of the investigation.