Fast facts: third-party investigation teams
- Source: Global Times
- [22:37 November 24 2009]
- Comments
'Hide-and-seek'
Twenty-four-year-old Li Qiaoming was taken into custody in Jinning county for felling trees without authorization on January 30. Li, of the prefecture-level city of Yuxi in Yunnan Province, was hospitalized on February 8, and died four days later of severe brain injuries.
Jinning police said Li had died while playing “hide-and-seek” with other inmates. Pushed by one inmate, Li had bumped into a wall as he fell.
Kunming papers reported the case on February 13. Web users picked up on the alibi and questioned the cause of Li's death.
Provincial officials selected an investigation team to visit the crime scene and help solve the case. Team members were not allowed to view video surveillance tapes, examine the autopsy report or question guards.
A later official investigation found Li was beaten to death by three inmates as two guards watched. The inmates were sentenced to 16 years, 17 years and life imprisonment. The guards received an 18-month and a one-year sentence. The Chinese media did not report any of the names and ages of those involved.
Taxi sting
On October 14, 18-year-old Sun Zhongjie met a troubled man trying to stop a car on his way to Pudong, Shanghai. He stopped to help the man. After the man got out, a minivan loaded with police stopped Sun's car and dragged him out, accusing him of running an illegal taxi operation. They took his car, driving license and vehicle license.
Sun cut off a finger to attest to his innocence as a third-party investigation team was organized by the Shanghai government.
The team established entrapment. The Pudong district government on October 26 admitted the inappropriate approach by police and apologized to the public. Sun was told he would be compensated.
Baby Xu
The 5-month-old boy died in the Nanjing Children's Hospital from a fever and an infection in his eye on November 3. The parents alleged the night shift doctor not only played online games but also ignored the mother when she kneeled and pleaded for attention.
A day after the case was reported by People's Daily, the Nanjing Health Bureau held a press conference in which the Nanjing Children's Hospital published their investigation report denying everything.
The bureau called in a third-party investigation team and on November 12, they published a second report confirming all the parents' accusations. The doctor was stripped of his medical license and fired and the hospital chief and related staff were disciplined.
