Police in central China's Henan province have issued a rare statement admitting that some officers may have tortured a suspect who died under detention, local media reported Tuesday.
"On March 12, 2017, a suspect died while our bureau's criminal investigation squad was handling a case of a telecommunications fraud ring," Wenxian county police said on its Twitter-like Weibo account.
"The People's Police handling the case are suspected of using torture to extract confessions and collect evidence," the March 13 statement said, adding that personnel found to have violated laws will be "resolutely punished."
The notice was viewed online more than 13 million times, Global Times newspaper noted Tuesday, with most Weibo commenters praising the bureau for its openness about misconduct.
Chinese news outlet Paper.cn cited the bureau as saying that the officers have been suspended from duty and their cases were transferred to the local procuratorate for investigation.
It is unclear whether the suspect was brought to a hospital for treatment or died in a detention centre. The bureau's public affairs department did not answer calls from AFP on Tuesday.
"This is not the first time Chinese police admitted use of torture, but it is the first time the police released such information on a public network," Chen Guangzhong of the China University of Political Science and Law told AFP.
"This seems to be a new communication tactic," said Jeremy Daum of Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center in Beijing.
"If people believe that the situation is being reviewed openly in accordance with law and handled justly, they are more likely to wait and see what happens rather than take their concerns to the streets," Daum told AFP.
Chinese courts have a conviction rate of 99.92 percent, and concerns over wrongful verdicts are fuelled by police reliance on forced confessions and the lack of effective defence in criminal trials.
Overseas rights groups say China executes more people than any other country, but Beijing does not give figures on the death penalty, regarding the statistics as state secrets.
In December 2016, China's top court cleared a man executed 21 years ago for murder, citing insufficient evidence in the original trial.
While the "landmark" verdict was a sign that China's judicial system has improved since the 1990s, observers say many problems remain unaddressed.
Tibetan farmer self-immolates in China: campaigners
Beijing (AFP) March 20, 2017 –
A young Tibetan farmer has self-immolated in southwest China in protest against China's presence in Tibet, campaigners said, the first Tibetan to set themselves on fire in 2017.
Pema Gyaltsen set himself ablaze on Saturday outside a Buddhist temple in Sichuan province, the Tibetan government in exile in India said in a statement, adding that the unmarried 24-year-old "called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet and for freedom in Tibet".
The group said he was the 146th Tibetan to self-immolate since 2009.
Contacted by AFP on Monday, local police said they were unable to confirm any information on the case.
Rights group Free Tibet said Gyaltsen "was unable to complete the self-immolation before the police arrived and looked to have been alive when he was taken away".
If he survived, Gyaltsen would "most likely face harsh treatment in detention with no guarantee of medical treatment, followed by a long prison sentence," the group said in a statement late Sunday.
Beijing says its troops "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1951, but many Tibetans accuse the central government of religious repression and eroding their culture.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled into exile after a failed uprising in 1959.
Tibetan monks within China have reported a campaign of government intimidation targeting the family and friends of those who set themselves on fire.
Art for art's sake: Calls for Hong Kong to get more creative
Hong Kong will see a creative surge as Art Basel comes to town, but there's a push for a more permanent change to the visual landscape of the city better known for its business hustle than its art scene.
Asia's largest art fair unveils its first preview Tuesday and has boosted Hong Kong's artistic credentials since it first launched in the city four years ago.
A vibrant, wide-ranging "ar … read more
