Extracts from Chen Guangcheng video

In a video of Chen Guangcheng, which has appeared on the internet, the high-profile activist makes three key demands directly to Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, while describing the harsh conditions of his detention.

"Dear Premier Wen - With great difficulty, I finally escaped. All the rumours and claims on the internet about violence against me and my wife...I tell you that they are all true.

"The truth is even worse than what has been spread online. Premier Wen, I formally make the following three requests of you."

Here are some key extracts from the video setting out his three demands, and naming officials he says should be bought to justice:

Punish officials who beat his family

"Firstly, [I hope] you will personally look into this case. Appoint an investigation team for a thorough investigation to reveal the truth.

"Who sent out the order for 70-80 county public security and party cadres to enter my house and violently beat us up and harm us without any legal documentation? None of them were wearing uniform, and they forbade us from seeking medical care after being injured in the violence.

"Over a dozen men broke into our house and violently beat up my wife. They pushed her to the ground, covered her in a duvet and beat her up for hours. They also beat me up violently.

"He [one senior party official] announced several times that: 'We simply don't need to care about the law; we don't need to care about what's written in the law; we don't need any legal process. What can you do?'"

"I asked them who they are, if not the police. They said: 'We are sent by the Party to do things for the Party.'

"This year, after the intervention and publicity from kind netizens, there were hundreds of guards at peak time, which created a full blockade [of Chen's home].

"The team outside are spread around my house, on four corners and on the roads and then there are people at the entrance of each road leading towards my house.

"There are people hired to patrol around in cars all the time. The scale of the patrol can be as far as 5km [3 miles] away from my village.

"I know that there are up to 100 county security officials who conducted illegal persecution... I demand a thorough investigation of them."

Ensure the safety of his family

''I may be free but my worries are for my family - my wife, my child, my mother. Perhaps because of my leaving, they may become the target of more brutal abuse.''

"For so long my family have been suffering from these persecutions but now I have gone, they [government officials] might take revenge [on my family] out of madness.

"The orbital bone of my wife's left eye was broken by them. It still shows when you touch it. Her back was injured when they beat her up in the house covered by a duvet... and they inhumanely forbade her from getting medical care after the injury.

"My [elderly] mother was pushed over to the ground by a village party cadre on her own birthday. She fell on her back and her head hit the door. She cried heavily. She said: 'You're doing this because you're young.' They said: 'That's right. The young can do it. You're old and can't defeat us.' So shameless, so cruel and inhumane - so unjust.

"My child, who is just a few years old, is followed by three people every day when going to school, and searched. Everything must be taken out from the school bag, and each page in the books is checked through.

"I call for the friends online to continue your attention and increase your level of care, in order to get to know their safety situations.

"I call for the Chinese government to ensure the safety of my family members, from the perspective of protecting the dignity of law and the interests of people."

Corruption must be punished

"The decision-makers are worried that their crimes will be exposed, that is why they don't want to resolve [this]

"I remember in August, when they conducted Cultural Revolution style criticisms on me, they said: "You said in the video that 30 million Yuan [$4.7m] was spent [on watching or controlling Chen]. Do you know that this is a 2008 figure. Now it's more than twice the sum!

"Many people who are hired [to guard Chen] said: 'We're given very little money, the majority is all taken by others.' This is indeed a great opportunity for them to get rich.

"Therefore, I ask Premier Wen to launch investigations into this corruption. The taxpayers' money must not be used by illegal local cadres for harming people and harming the image of our Party.

"Premier Wen, people cannot understand all these illegal acts. Has it been local officials who disobey the law, or have they been acting upon orders from the central government? You should give the public a clear answer very soon.

"If a thorough investigation is launched and the truth is revealed to the general public, then the result will be clear. But if you continue to ignore it, what will the public think?"