The Guangdong People's Procuratorate on Thursday called on the
public to continue to help it identify and prosecute government
officials found to be guilty of dereliction of duty.
Figures show that of the 2,200 such cases reported by the public
since 2005, 738 people in 678 cases were subsequently
prosecuted.
Of those, 65 were county-level officials, with five holding more
senior positions.
Since the beginning of 2006, the procuratorate has rewarded 23
people for providing information on such cases, Huang Liming,
director of the anti-dereliction of duty division of the provincial
procuratorate, said.
Also on Thursday, the provincial disciplinary watchdog disclosed
details of four its most serious cases.
In one, two police officials in Huazhou, Guangdong, were charged
with torturing to death Huang Weiqing in November 2002, who had
earlier been arrested for being a grifter.
A court heard how police officer Huang Weiguang, who had been
drinking alcohol prior to interrogating the suspect, repeatedly
beat the man about the head, chest, back and legs until he lost
consciousness, in a bid to extract a confession.
Huang Weiqing later died of his injuries on November 14.
A second police officer, Li Hanyu, was found guilty of failing
to intervene; he instead simply left the room.
Almost 40 police officers from the station unanimously testified
that the suspect had killed himself by hitting his head on a table
while being questioned.
However, the dead man's family continued to appeal to government
departments for justice. The provincial procuratorate eventually
set up a special team and after a two-month investigation reached
its decision on the police officers involved.
Huang was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Li got two years
for dereliction of duty. A number of other police officers were
also punished.
In another case, Fu Zuoqing, the former president of the
Qingyuan Intermediate People's Court, received 11 years'
imprisonment for misuse of power, bribery and embezzlement.
(China Daily June 9, 2007)