Cops’ ‘taped-mouth’ method on suspects fuels online row
Print Edition
Police in Huizhou City, south China’s Guangdong Province, reportedly taped suspects’ mouths and had their heads covered with newspapers in order to “prevent collusion” in their statements — a ploy that has sparked outrage.
A gang of burglars was busted over the weekend and the 23 suspects were taken for questioning to Chenjiang police station. The Southern Metropolis Daily reported that they were locked in two narrow detention rooms.
Some were forced to wear “paper masks” while handcuffed to the gate of the detention house. Their faces were covered with newspapers, which were fixed with gummed tapes around their heads, and their numbers were marked in black on the papers, pictures showed.
A police officer explained that the step was taken to avoid collusion in their statements before interrogation because the group was from remote Weng’an Town in southwestern Guizhou Province.
It would have been difficult for the police to understand what they were saying in local dialect, which raised the possibility that the suspects could collude with each other, he added.
A lawyer with Shangdian Law Firm, however, suggested that there may be better ways to prevent collusion, although there are no clear laws or regulations in China prohibiting the taping of suspects’ mouths.
The gang is accused of committing hundreds of burglaries by breaking and entering. They were caught in a mahjong parlor in Huizhou, police said.
The “taped-mouth” method has stirred an online storm.
“Police should lock them in different rooms and treat them with due respect,” according to a netizen’s post.
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