Family's silence over custody death rankles
By Wang Xiang |
April 10, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A BICYCLE-STEALING suspect has died in a central China detention house with police saying he drowned in a basin when washing his face.
The man, surnamed Xue, was detained for 15 days last month for stealing a bicycle in Jingzhou City, Hubei Province. He died just days before he was about to be released, according to a local Website.
Xue's family has been strangely quiet about his death, though a previous online post, allegedly written by an insider, said that family members were shocked to find blood in Xue's mouth and nose.
Jingzhou police insisted that an autopsy found no injuries on Xue's body and the family has "willingly cremated the body yesterday" after reaching an "agreement with the police."
Police said Xue was found dead by a cellmate on the morning of April 7 and insisted he died from drowning.
The report quoted a police insider saying that the 54-year-old was a routine thief and the Jingzhou police paid his family 300,000 yuan (US$44,000) to keep their mouth shut. But a police officer denied any such suggestions, the report said.
This is the first suspicious death in China's detention houses this year.
The chaotic conditions in China's detention houses and weird police explanations for unnatural deaths in custody have sparked a public outcry, triggering an overhaul of the detention systems.
In February 2009, Li Qiaoming, 24, was beaten to death by three fellow inmates in Yunnan Province, but the detention center at first claimed that he died while playing "hide-and-seek."
The Ministry of Public Security later issued a guideline on the management and education in detention centers.
The man, surnamed Xue, was detained for 15 days last month for stealing a bicycle in Jingzhou City, Hubei Province. He died just days before he was about to be released, according to a local Website.
Xue's family has been strangely quiet about his death, though a previous online post, allegedly written by an insider, said that family members were shocked to find blood in Xue's mouth and nose.
Jingzhou police insisted that an autopsy found no injuries on Xue's body and the family has "willingly cremated the body yesterday" after reaching an "agreement with the police."
Police said Xue was found dead by a cellmate on the morning of April 7 and insisted he died from drowning.
The report quoted a police insider saying that the 54-year-old was a routine thief and the Jingzhou police paid his family 300,000 yuan (US$44,000) to keep their mouth shut. But a police officer denied any such suggestions, the report said.
This is the first suspicious death in China's detention houses this year.
The chaotic conditions in China's detention houses and weird police explanations for unnatural deaths in custody have sparked a public outcry, triggering an overhaul of the detention systems.
In February 2009, Li Qiaoming, 24, was beaten to death by three fellow inmates in Yunnan Province, but the detention center at first claimed that he died while playing "hide-and-seek."
The Ministry of Public Security later issued a guideline on the management and education in detention centers.
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