Died running into walls while playing hide and seek

Former justice official decries torture in prisons
Reuters in Beijing
Mar 14, 2009     
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A former vice-minister of justice on the mainland has criticised torture in its prisons, after the death of a prisoner was found to have been covered up by officials who said it was the result of a game of "hide and seek".

Duan Zhengkun said: "Detention houses should not be managed by public security departments, because they make the arrests and sometimes torture the accused to force them to confess."

Judicial authorities have pledged to step up inspections of prisons and detention facilities to prevent inmates from being bullied or tortured.

The case of Li Qiaoming, an inmate in a Yunnan prison, had sparked public outrage. Authorities claimed he died after running into a wall while playing hide and seek. After an outcry on the internet, an investigation revealed that he had been beaten to death by a fellow prisoner.

The case "put a huge question mark on security inside China's prisons", official media reported, citing procuratorate spokesman Tong Jianming. Officials have pledged inspection tours and punishment in cases of judicial corruption or dereliction of duty.

Luo Jingbo, 57, detained for illegally holding and trading firearms, was beaten to death last week in a detention centre on the southern island of Hainan, the Hainan Special Zone Daily said yesterday.