Sun Zhigang, an employee of Guangzhou Daqi Garment Company from Wuhan, capital city of Central China's Hubei Province, was beaten to death by eight patients at a penitentiary hospital just hours after being arrested for not carrying ID.

Sun had been walking to an Internet cafe on Huangcun avenue, Tianhe district, during the evening of March 17 when he was stopped by a patrol with the Huangcun Public Security Division of Tianhe Branch.

After failing to produce identification certificates, Sun was detained by the Public Security Bureau of Tianhe Branch as an illegal resident.

The next day, Sun complained of feeling ill and asked for medical treatment. But in the clinic, he was beaten up by eight other patients and subsequently died.

A postmortem on April 18 revealed that Sun was punched for 72 hours.

The maltreatment case of Sun was heard yesterday in Guangzhou, capital city of South China's Guangdong Province.

Lin Peikun, deputy director with Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau and Lu Yande, deputy director with the city's Health Care Administration were punished by having criticisms placed on their records.

Tang Qichang, deputy director of Guangzhou's Public Affairs Administration was given an executive warning while Han Liping, director of Tianhe Branch of Public Security Bureau, was sacked.

A judicial verdict was not passed at the hearing, which is set to last at least one and a half days, said a source close to the court.

"It is expected to come tomorrow," the source said.

(China Daily June 6, 2003)