Chinese police Saturday said a man serving detention in Hubei Province died of a heart attack, the same day as police in the northern Hebei Province officially blamed the death of another detainee on the same cause.
Lian Kaishan, 57, had been held in a detention center in Suizhou City since April on suspicion of intentionally injuring others before he died on Friday, said Wan Xuebin, chief of the city's Public Security Bureau, on Saturday.
Doctors of the Central Hospital of Suizhou, where Lian was treated and died, said his death was caused by a sudden cardiac arrest.
Lian had difficulty breathing at 11 a.m. Thursday, two hours after meeting with his lawyer.
He was immediately treated by doctors at the detention center and then rushed to the hospital as his situation deteriorated, said Wan.
Lian remained conscious and was able to talk Thursday, but his heart stopped and he died at 2:43 a.m. Friday after emergency treatment failed.
In north China's Hebei Province, a month-long investigation blamed the death of a detainee on July 9 on acute coronary disease rather than alleged beating, according to a statement released by the Commission of Politics and Law of Xinglong County.
Fu Guohua broke into the courtroom where court officers of Xinglong County were mediating a divorce appeal by his brother on the day.
Fu, who had been drinking, was detained on charges of disrupting the court.
He fainted immediately on arrival at the detention room in the court and died in hospital two hours later.
Blood tests showed excessive amounts of alcohol, which contributed to the heart attack, according to the investigation by a team of nine forensic experts from the provincial public security and procuratorate authorities.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2009)
