Twelve people were sentenced to death or imprisonment Monday by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court for their roles in the beating to death of a young man.
The 27-year-old victim, Sun Zhigang, from Wuhan City of Hubei Province, was beaten do death on March 19 night in a police clinic, according to the investigation of the court.
Qiao Yanqin, an attendant of the clinic, was sentenced to death for organizing the beating.
On March 17, Sun Zhigang, found without any ID by the police, was detained at the Guangzhou Police Holding Center. On the night of March 18, Sun told the police that he was suffering a heart attack and was sent to the center's clinic.
On March 19 night, Sun shouted loudly for help in the clinic, disturbing clinic attendant Qiao Yanqin who organized eight other detainees in the center to beat Sun in turns. Sun was found unconscious and died on the morning of March 20 despite receiving medical treatment.
Li Haiying, one of the eight detainees who beat Sun, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.
Zhong Liaoguo, another detainee who beat Sun, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The other nine people, including three clinic attendants and six detainees, who joined the organization of the beating or beat Sun, were jailed for terms of three to 15 years.
Meanwhile, six officials in the police center, including Li Yaohui, former chief of the Huangcun Street Police Station, and deputy head of the clinic Doctor Zhang Yaohui, were sentenced to jail terms of two or three years for dereliction of duty.
Sun had been working for the Daqi Garment Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou and held both residency and identification documents, but he did not have the documents on him when he was arrested.
(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2003)
