BEIJING -- The brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng who was reported to have gone missing has returned to his village in northeastern China, a lawyer said on Saturday.

The short disappearance of Chen Guangfu had sparked concerns he was the latest target of government reprisals against the family of the activist, who escaped from his village in late April after 19 months of detention at home.

Shandong-based lawyer Liu Weiguo told Reuters Chen Guangfu had returned to Dongshigu village. Liu earlier said the activist was "very worried" about his brother's disappearance and was contacting friends to look for him.

 "Brother Fu is now home," Liu said, adding he had received a text message from Chen Guangfu on Saturday night.

Chen Guangfu had left his village on Tuesday and arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to seek legal help for his son who is detained on a charge of attempted murder. Friends and family had tried to contact him since Friday evening after it appeared he did not return to his hotel room in Beijing that night.

His son Chen Kegui, 32, was charged with "intentional homicide" for using knives to fend off local officials who burst into his home on April 27, the day after they discovered his uncle had escaped.

Blind Chinese activist Chen in US: 'Promote justice and fairness in China'

He could face the death penalty. His lawyers, denied access to him last week, said he did not kill anyone.

On Wednesday, Chen Guangfu had recounted to Reuters details of his own torture and reprisals by authorities since his brother's escape.

He said he was restricted from leaving his village, and police in Shandong warned him they would increase his son's sentence if he gave interviews.

Read more news about China on NBC's Behind the Wall

Activist Chen Guangcheng took refuge in the U.S. embassy last month, where he stayed for six days and sparked a diplomatic crisis between China and the United States.

That crisis, which overshadowed a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was finally defused last Saturday when China allowed Chen to fly to the United States to study.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Scotland launches independence campaign with 007's support
• Runoff could take Egypt's voters on one of two very different paths
• Leftist tipped to be next Greek leader warns of 'Cold War' over austerity
• Japan's fugitive penguin caught after two months on the lam
• Why so glum? Germans struggle to find joy, poll suggests
• Tens of thousands of elephants likely killed last year, experts say

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Updated at 11:15 a.m. ET: Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is under U.S. protection after a bold escape from 19 months under house arrest, sources told NBC News on Monday, a revelation that looked sure to complicate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's looming trip to Beijing.

"My sources tell me that Chen is, indeed, under U.S. protection in Beijing.  Now we don't know whether that means he's actually within the walls of the American Embassy compound, or in a diplomatic safe house, but he's definitely in U.S. hands there," NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell said on TODAY Monday.

The United States has not given any public confirmation of reports that Chen, who reportedly slipped away from under the noses of guards and surveillance equipment around his village home in Shandong province on April 22, fled to the U.S. Embassy.

Rights group: China, US in talks over blind activist Chen Guangcheng

Chen, a self-schooled legal advocate who campaigned against abortions forced under China's "one child" policy, was held under extra-legal detention in his village home in Linyi from September 2010, when he was released from jail for charges he said were spurious. 

Reuters

Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, and child did not escape with him, and human rights activists have voiced worry that they and Chen's other relatives might have suffered abuse at the hands of police and officials angry about his escape. 

The questions surrounding the activist are casting a pall over the upcoming high-level meeting in Beijing, which would have been challenging for Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner even without a human rights dispute.

Read more China coverage on our Behind The Wall blog

"There are very delicate negotiations under way ... in advance of Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's annual talks this week," Mitchell said.

The May 3-4 Strategic & Economic Dialogue is the last of such annual consultations before political seasons heat up in the United States and China, giving leaders in both countries less flexibility over contentious economic and security issues.

The United States goes into full campaign mode for the November presidential election, while China's ruling Communist Party enters a leadership transition in the fall that has been complicated by a scandal that toppled senior leader Bo Xilai.

Bob Fu, whose religious and political rights advocacy group ChinaAid who has been the chief source of information about Chen, said he had confirmed "intensive talks" between the United States and China began right after the activist took shelter in the embassy.

"I was told the Chinese top leaders have been deliberating a decision to be made very soon," Fu said on Sunday by telephone from Texas. A "Chinese official response (is) expected in the next day or so," he added.

Who is Fu? Chinese exile is 'God's double agent'

The European Union, meanwhile, urged China show "utmost restraint" over Chen.

"We call on the Chinese authorities to exercise utmost restraint in dealing with the matter, including avoiding harassment of his family members or any person associated with him," the Delegation of the European Union to China said in a statement. "Human rights defenders should be treated in full compliance with Chinese laws and constitution." 

China has declined direct public comment on Chen's reported escape.

NBC News, msnbc.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Did spies or 'Pakistani Blackwater' shield bin Laden?
• 'Slaughtered for their ivory': Up to 35,000 elephants slain in one year, charity says
• U.S. and Ugandan soldiers go after Joseph Kony
• UK to put missiles on rooftop to guard Olympics?
• Has the Taliban fallen on tough times?
• Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng escapes from house arrest

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Army Pvt. Danny Chen.

An officer reviewing charges against eight soldiers in connection with the death of a Chinese-American Army private, who apparently took his life after being hazed and abused, has recommended dropping the most serious charge -- involuntary manslaughter.

The investigating officer recommended that seven soldiers be court-martialed on multiple charges in connection with the death of Pvt. Danny Chen, 19, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Oct. 3 in Afghanistan, the Army said Tuesday. The Article 32 hearings, which determine if there is enough evidence for a court-martial, are being held at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan.

The most recent four infantrymen to go through those hearings had been facing charges that included involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide, thought to be the first time such charges have been brought in this type of case, according to experts on hazing and on the military legal system.

But involuntary manslaughter was not among the charges recommended against Staff Sgt. Andrew VanBockel, Sgts. Jeffrey Hurst and Adam Holcomb and Spc. Thomas Curtis -- mirroring the outcome of the first Article 32 hearing for Spc. Ryan Offutt, which ended on Jan. 22.

"If the investigating officer determines that there was not sufficient evidence to support the elements of the charge, then the investigating officer may recommend not moving forward with that charge," said Sgt. 1^st Class Alan G. Davis, an Army spokesman. 

The maximum punishment for involuntary manslaughter is 10 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge; for negligent homicide it three years imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge.

The commander of the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, will consider the investigating officer's recommendations in determining whether to forward the charges to the Combined Joint Task Force-82 Commander for final disposition, Davis said.

A lawyer and former member of the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps has previously noted that the officer's recommendations were simply that -- a recommendation -- that could be accepted or ignored.

Courtesy of the Chen family

Pvt. Danny Chen, left, with his mother, Su Zhen Chen, at his graduation from basic training.

Chen was found dead at a guard tower with his rifle lying next to him at Combat Outpost Palace in the Panjwa'i district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.

Almost immediately after he arrived in mid-August, Chen, the only Chinese-American in his platoon, was required to do exercises that crossed over to alleged abuse, according to investigators from the Regional Command-South, said Elizabeth OuYang, New York branch president of OCA, a national civil rights organization serving Asian Pacific Americans.

Some of it was inflicted by one soldier and some by a group, according to OuYang, who was briefed on the investigation. Investigators also found evidence that the platoon sergeant and the platoon leader -- the top two officers in the unit -- were aware of an attack on Chen on Sept. 27 and chose not to report it, OuYang said.

The family and Chinese-American community have asked that Chen's comrades face the involuntary manslaughter charges and want the courts-martial to be held in the United States, citing the need for access, transparency and accountability. OuYang said they were disappointed with the officer not recommending the involuntary manslaughter charge.

"We have not been able to see any of the evidence in these eight pre-trials," she said. "We don’t know why we’re in the dark ... as to why the involuntary manslaughter charges was dropped. That’s why it’s imperative that we must have access to the court-martials so we can see the evidence in this case.”

The investigating officer has recommended the following charges be forwarded to court-martial:

-- For VanBockel: two counts of violation of a general regulation; three counts of dereliction of duty; two counts of maltreatment; one count of negligent homicide; and one count of reckless endangerment.

-- For Hurst: two counts violation of a general regulation; two counts of dereliction of duty; one count of maltreatment; one count of negligent homicide; and one count of reckless endangerment.

-- For Holcomb: three counts of violation of a general regulation; two counts of dereliction of duty; two counts of maltreatment; one count of assault; one count of negligent homicide; one count of reckless endangerment; and one count of communicating a threat.

-- For Curtis: two counts of violation of a general regulation; one count of dereliction of duty; six counts of maltreatment; four counts of assault; one count of negligent homicide; and one count of reckless endangerment.

-- For Lt. Daniel Schwartz, 25, of Maryland: eight counts of dereliction of duty.

-- For Offutt: two counts of violation of a lawful general regulation; four counts of maltreatment; one count of manslaughter; three counts of assault consummated by battery; one count of negligent homicide; and one count of reckless endangerment.

The investigating officer has yet to issue a court-martial recommendation for Sgt. Travis Carden, 25, of Fowler, Ind. His hearing is scheduled for April 4-5 at Kandahar Air Field, the Army said. The charges against him are: two counts of violation of a lawful general regulation;  two counts of maltreatment; one count of assault; and one count of reckless endangerment.

The Article 32 for the remaining soldier, Staff Sgt. Blaine Dugas, 35, of Texas, began Feb. 19 and is ongoing. He is charged with one count of violation of a lawful general order; two counts of dereliction of duty; and one count of mking a false official statement.

Related stories on msnbc.com:

• Hearings set in Chinese-American soldier's alleged hazing death
• Army reveals details of alleged hazing of Chinese-American soldier
• Experts: Harshest charges in Asian-American GI's death may not stick
• Family of Chinese-American soldier want GIs tried in U.S.
• Lawsuit claims rape, misconduct at D.C. Marine Barracks