Story of torture is 'fake'

Xie Yang gives an interview. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Chinese authorities have refuted foreign media reports that a Chinese lawyer had been tortured in police detention, saying that these allegations were fabricated to tarnish China's image.

Xie Yang, a lawyer in Hunan province, was probed on suspicion of subversion and disrupting court order in July 2015. He then began living under surveillance and legal proceedings began in January, according to a report by Global Times on Wednesday.

However, since October, many foreign media organizations have reported that Xie was tortured by police in detention, including beatings and lengthy interrogations. But these allegations were made up by another Beijing lawyer, Jiang Tianyong, Global Times reported.

An independent investigation team set up by the Hunan Provincial People's Procuratorate also concluded that the allegations are fake, the report said.

Xie Yang, who is now awaiting trial, also said that he slept nine hours a day, and medical checks show that he is in good health.

Jiang, whose lawyer's license was revoked by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Justice in 2009, has been held under criminal detention since December on suspicion of subversion and illegally holding classified documents, the report said.

Jiang confessed that he deliberately fabricated the torture stories because he was unsatisfied with the Chinese government and wanted to change China's current political system.

"I'm willing to confess to my crime," he was quoted as saying.

Jiang said he's fully aware that such stories would cater to the taste of Western media, which is keen to report negative China stories, particularly relating to torture. By using the Western media, he could attack the Chinese government and tarnish the image of China's judicial organs, according to Global Times.

The report said Jiang managed to contact Xie's wife in September 2015 and won her trust to become Xie's attorney. Jiang then told her how to fabricate stories about Xie being tortured to exert pressure on Chinese authorities.

Jiang edited the piece and published it in a series, and also sent the stories to an activist overseas, as the man said he hoped to submit the piece to the European Commission of Human Rights, Jiang was quoted as saying.

"We've probed the police officers, people who stay together with Xie under residential surveillance and Xie himself, and concluded that the torture allegations are fake," an unnamed director of the investigation team was quoted as saying.