Payout, apology for victim of stolen identity
Print Edition
POLICE in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, have paid 10,000 yuan (US$1,650) in compensation and made a public apology in the local press to a woman wrongly held in custody for 10 days last year on a theft charge, Nanguo Metropolis Daily reported on Wednesday.
Li Chang, from Danzhou City, Hainan, was arrested in an Internet cafe in the provincial capital Haikou on December 17. She was apprehended after logging on to a computer using her ID card. This alerted local police whose computer system indicated she was wanted in Guangzhou.
The woman was arrested and taken to Haikou’s No. 2 detention center.
Officers in charge of the case believed Li to be an on-the-run thief. A woman using the same ID card as Li had in February 2012 been charged with stealing 4,500 yuan in Guangzhou. The thief was subsequently released on bail due to her being pregnant, but failed to check in with police once the bail period had expired.
While in detention in Haikou, Li was interrogated while handcuffed to a chair and made to sleep on a concrete floor. On December 25, she was transferred into the custody of Guangzhou police, who a day later realized they were holding the wrong person.
According to Li’s husband Liang Ying, the mistaken identity was a result of Li’s ID and bank cards being stolen in 2011.
He said a woman had earlier been caught on a bank surveillance camera emptying Li’s bank account, but was never apprehended. He said he assumed the thief had continued to impersonate Li.
He added that Li had been sterilized in 2009 and could not have been pregnant in 2012.
After her release on December 28, Li flew to Meilan Airport in Haikou where she was met by her husband. The experience of being detained left Li mentally scarred and she trembles constantly, the report said.
After hearing of the case, Danzhou’s Party chief told government agencies to intervene. Lawyers then contacted the Ministry of Public Security, Guangdong People’s Procuratorate, and Guangzhou’s legislature and discipline inspection bodies.
Li agreed to take no further legal action after Guangzhou police paid her 10,000 yuan on January 28 and issued the apology.
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