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Family accuses police in jail death

By Liang Qiwen in Guangdong and Xie Chuanjiao in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-01 07:47

The family of a 34-year-old man who died in a detention center has accused officers of beating the man to death.

Lin Lifeng, detained after allegedly threatening a schoolboy with a knife, is the 16th known person to die in custody this year.

His family asked for a postmortem on the body, but police rejected the request.

"The rejection made us more suspicious my brother was badly treated in the detention center before he died," said his older sister Lin Shengmei.

Lin was taken into custody after the alleged attack on the schoolboy in Wuchuan city, Guangdong province about noon on June 25.

He was questioned for several hours by police and then sent to a second detention center about 1 am on June 26.

Wuchuan police said the detention center guards kept watch on Lin, but found him unwell about noon that day.

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Lin was immediately sent to Wuchuan People's Hospital but he could not be saved, they said.

A hospital official surnamed Xiao said yesterday the man was already dead when he arrived at the hospital.

A Wuchuan government official surnamed Chen said a special task force has been established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death, but would not reveal further information.

The family said Lin had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for many years. He was first diagnosed in 1999.

"He had mental problems for a few years, but we don't believe the problems could kill him," said sister Lin Shengmei. "We suspect he was treated badly in the detention center."

She said Lin was in hospital for a period of time and was also on medication. "Because of the disease, he sometimes cannot control his behavior," she said.

Some years ago, Lin also threatened a neighbor with a knife. His sister believes her brother's illness flared up again last week and was behind his attack on the schoolboy.

After Lin Lifeng was detained, the family carried his medical records to the police station and asked for him to be released. Police said they did not know if Lin's mental condition contributed to the attack, his sister said.

"We are trying to use legal methods to persuade the police to allow a postmortem. If it's confirmed my brother was beaten before he died, we will accuse the detention center," Lin Shengme said.

The family plans to appeal to a higher authority for a postmortem.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) announced in April there had been 15 unnatural deaths in custody up to that point this year.

The issue first hit the headlines on Feb 12, when 24-year-old Li Qiaoming was beaten to death in Yunnan province.

Local authorities initially ruled out foul play, blaming his death on an accident during a game of hide and seek.

The SPP and police departments have begun a five-month review starting from the end of April to check the efficiency of detention facilities, but there have been no findings about the causes of deaths.

Detention facilities are the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Security, which is empowered to arrest, detain, interrogate and investigate.

The length of detention can last from a few days to several months - and in some special cases even a few years, according to the Criminal Procedure Law.

Chen Weidong, a criminal procedure professor with Renmin University of China, said conditions and security in detention facilities are "worrisome".

"Police will sometimes have the detained suspects, especially new ones, tortured so they can get confessions and complete an investigation as soon as possible," he said.