Southern Metropolitan Daily, 2009-07-03
After one and a half days of proceedings, the Nanchang (Jiangxi Province) Intermediate Court closed the trial phase of the case against four police officers accused of torturing Wan Jianguo, who died during police questioning. Nanchang police detained Wan in July 2008 on suspicion of selling defective immune globulin to a local hospital where six patients died from the substance. A month earlier, however, another company had already admitted to selling the immune globulin to the hospital. While in police custody, two separate shifts of officers, allegedly upon the orders of chief criminal investigator Xia Xiangdong to “defeat violence with violence”, repeatedly beat Wan with wooden clubs, police nightsticks and electric batons in the hopes of extracting a confession. They also, upon Xia's explicit instructions, suspended Wan upside down and swung his head into a metal railing.
Prosecutors, despite the protests of Wan's family's legal counsel, only brought charges against Xia and three officers on shift when Wan died. Five other officers who admitted to torturing Wan earlier were excused of criminal responsibility because “the circumstances of their crimes were minor . . . and they have displayed contrition.” Arguing that his actions “exceeded the scope of torture to extract confession,” prosecutors charged one officer, Deng Hongfei, with intentional injury, while the three others, including chief investigator Xia, were charged with torture to extract confession. Wan's family's lawyer also disputed those charges, pointing out that Article 247 of China's criminal code stipulates that police torture resulting in death constitutes homicide. Xia argued his actions did not constitute a crime, and two other defendants offered not guilty defenses. The court will announce its verdict at a future date.
No comments:
Post a Comment