Society

Police arrested over alleged torture of man

By Yan Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-20 08:44

Victim detained on robbery, rape, murder charges

BEIJING - Two police officers in Northwest China's Gansu province have been arrested on charges of torturing a murder suspect to death during an interrogation, a spokeswoman with the provincial public security department said on Tuesday.

He Yong, 27, who is suspected of robbing, raping and killing a schoolgirl in Xihe county of Gansu province, died on April 1 after vomiting during an interrogation conducted by local police officers, according to the spokeswoman, who did not give her name.

Local police had arrested He, a local bank clerk, earlier that same day after having come to suspect that he and three accomplices were responsible for the crimes against the girl, which had occurred in late March.

Local police forced He to confess to the crimes and beat him while asking questions, the spokeswoman said.

On April 3, two police officers in Xihe county were detained on the suspicion that they had tortured He, the spokeswoman said. On April 16, the local prosecutors' office granted a warrant to arrest them, she added.

Local police told He's family that he had died from sudden heart failure during the interrogation, the local Lanzou Morning Post reported on Monday, quoting He Jinku, He Yong's uncle.

But He's family doubted the police's claims and insisted that he had never been diagnosed with heart disease, the newspaper said.

He Jinku said he saw He Yong's body when forensic experts conducted an autopsy on April 3.

The body was covered with wounds caused by lashes and electric shocks and the head had obviously been bleeding, according to He Jinku.

The autopsy's results will be known in about 20 days, according to the spokeswoman with the provincial public security department.

After the Ministry of Public Security initiated a crackdown on police brutality in 2009, cases similar to He Yong's have become less common, said Wu Ming'an, an expert on criminal law and a professor with China University of Political Science and Law.

But they are still far from being eliminated.

Luo Xiaohu, head of the Gansu provincial public security department, demanded that local authorities in Xihe county severely punish those found responsible for such abuses, according to the spokeswoman.

The province has initiated its own campaign aimed at preventing police brutality.

Meanwhile, the arrests of the two officers on torture charges have led to changes within the leadership of the county's police force.

By Tuesday, Liu Xiaoyong, head of the county's public security bureau, had been removed from his post while another three police officials had been fired, according to a statement released by the provincial public security department on Monday.

Cao Yin contributed to this story.