Belated justice for farmer's 'mental' agony
Source: Xinhua |
April 29, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOUR local officials were dismissed on Tuesday after it was revealed a farmer who had lodged a complaint had been detained in mental hospitals in central China's Henan Province for more than six years.
Xu Lindong, a farmer from Daliu Town, Yuanhui District, Luohe City, complained to the central government from 1997 to 2003 on behalf of his handicapped friend, Zhang Guizhi, whose land had been occupied by a third party.
Xu was thrown into the Zhumadian Municipal Mental Hospital in October 2003 and was transferred to Luohe Municipal Mental Hospital in December 2009. After being held in mental institutions for more than six years, he was released on Sunday.
Investigators found three local officials - Yang Yaoqin, deputy director of the district's Supervision Bureau; Chen Huijun, with the district's Bureau of Letters and Visits; and Song Changqing, head of the town's Family Planning Service Center - fabricated evidence in 2003 to put Xu into mental hospital. They have been dismissed.
Shi Hongtao, Party chief of Daliu township at the time, was also sacked from his current position as an official at the Yuanhui District government for not preventing the farmer's detention.
The town's Party chief, Li Qilong, said: "I was astonished to read about Xu's mistreatment. I came to work in this town after February 2008 and was not aware of the issue until the media coverage. The people who did this should be held accountable."
Xu and his family insisted that Xu was not mentally ill.
"Xu was wrongly hospitalized because some officials wanted to prevent him from lodging complaints," his brother Xu Linpu said.
Xu has received new clothes, rice, flour, cooking oil and 500 yuan (US$73) from the town government and the district civil affairs bureau to meet his everyday needs. Li said, "As for Xu's future life, we are trying to help him apply for the guaranteed subsistence allowances provided by the government."
Zhang Shaoming, a lawyer, said there are legal loopholes under which a person can be classified as mentally ill, and these have been exploited by some to wrongly throw people into mental institutions.
Xu Lindong, a farmer from Daliu Town, Yuanhui District, Luohe City, complained to the central government from 1997 to 2003 on behalf of his handicapped friend, Zhang Guizhi, whose land had been occupied by a third party.
Xu was thrown into the Zhumadian Municipal Mental Hospital in October 2003 and was transferred to Luohe Municipal Mental Hospital in December 2009. After being held in mental institutions for more than six years, he was released on Sunday.
Investigators found three local officials - Yang Yaoqin, deputy director of the district's Supervision Bureau; Chen Huijun, with the district's Bureau of Letters and Visits; and Song Changqing, head of the town's Family Planning Service Center - fabricated evidence in 2003 to put Xu into mental hospital. They have been dismissed.
Shi Hongtao, Party chief of Daliu township at the time, was also sacked from his current position as an official at the Yuanhui District government for not preventing the farmer's detention.
The town's Party chief, Li Qilong, said: "I was astonished to read about Xu's mistreatment. I came to work in this town after February 2008 and was not aware of the issue until the media coverage. The people who did this should be held accountable."
Xu and his family insisted that Xu was not mentally ill.
"Xu was wrongly hospitalized because some officials wanted to prevent him from lodging complaints," his brother Xu Linpu said.
Xu has received new clothes, rice, flour, cooking oil and 500 yuan (US$73) from the town government and the district civil affairs bureau to meet his everyday needs. Li said, "As for Xu's future life, we are trying to help him apply for the guaranteed subsistence allowances provided by the government."
Zhang Shaoming, a lawyer, said there are legal loopholes under which a person can be classified as mentally ill, and these have been exploited by some to wrongly throw people into mental institutions.
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