China: Guangdong officials silent on alleged beating of airport bomber

2013-08-09

Chinese security personnel prevent media members from getting closer to the scene of the blast at Beijing's main airport, July 20, 2013. AFP

Officials are tight-lipped over a probe into the police beating of a disabled Chinese man who set off an explosive at a Beijing airport last month in an apparent move to highlight his plight, according to a prominent rights lawyer.

Beijing-based lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said no public announcement had been made by local authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong following pledges to re-open the complaint of Ji Zhongxing, who is being held at an unknown location after he detonated an explosive device in Beijing's Capital Airport on July 20.

"The police said they were still investigating the beating and crippling of Ji Zhongxing, while the [local] court said they have already completed their investigation, but that they can't publish the result," said Liu, who visited police and court officials in Guandong's Dongguan city on behalf of Ji.

Liu said in an interview that while the apparent suicide bombing incident had sent shock waves through local government in Dongguan, where the alleged police brutality took place, officials have not made any announcement on Ji's complaint.

Ji was severely beaten by police staff in 2005 when he had worked as a motorcycle driver in Dongguan in southern Guangdong province, causing him to become disabled, various reports have said.

Cell phone video of the bombing incident showed Ji calling on bystanders to stand clear ahead of the blast, which apparently injured no one but himself, and his action drew widespread sympathy online, where public anger is mounting over brutal law enforcement tactics.

Perplexed

Liu said he was perplexed about why it has taken so long to resolve the issue.

"Between Aug. 7 and the morning of Aug. 8, I visited the Dongguan municipal police department and the Hengjie branch station, as well as the No. 1 Municipal People's Court and the Intermediate People's Court," he said in a post on social media on Friday.

"This should be a simple issue, so why are they taking so long over it?" he said. "If they don't make the results of their investigation public, then of course it will affect the case against Ji Zhongxing."

He said the fact that the court was reluctant to publish the results of its probe suggested that Ji's allegations of police brutality were credible.

"There must have been a reason ... [for Ji's actions]," Liu said. "He didn't just suddenly decide to take revenge on society for no reason."

Meanwhile, Fujian-based blogger and rights activist Fan Yanqiong said Ji's actions, while they caught world attention, were nothing unusual in China, where miscarriages of justice are common.

"There are so many victims of injustice now, with nowhere to turn, to the point where they are in despair," she said.

"If [the government] are dragging their feet, it means that they are definitely in the wrong, and that all the officials are protecting each other," Fan said.

Refusal

Ji's brother, Ji Zhongji, blamed his apparent suicide bombing attempt on the refusal of the Chinese authorities to take his official complaints seriously.

Ji, 34, was stopped by security staff when he tried to hand out leaflets outside Gate B of the airport's arrival hall. He then set off an explosive device in his bag, injuring himself and a policeman, official media reported.

Video of the bombing incident posted by a bystander online showed crowds of people gathering around a verbal confrontation in Beijing's Capital Airport, then moving away after apparently being warned to do so by Ji.

An explosion then obscures the camera phone footage, and the phone owner begins to run.

According to his blog, which was inaccessible after the incident, Ji was attacked by police in Dongguan in the early hours of June 28, 2005, while he was carrying a passenger on his motorcycle.

Ji blamed the attack for causing spinal injuries which left him paralyzed.

Ji's blast protest came after he unsuccessfully sued the Dongguan government for compensation in January 2007, a decision that was upheld on appeal to the Dongguan Intermediate People's Court in January 2008.

Dongguan police say they paid 100,000 yuan (U.S. $16,283) to Ji in compensation in March 2010, after he petitioned the central government in Beijing.

Rights groups have hit out at the ruling Chinese Communist Party for keeping up a "stranglehold" on dissidents and rights activists in recent years, subjecting thousands to arbitrary detention in labor camps and unofficial "black jails."

China's army of petitioners – many of whom pursue complaints against the government over forced evictions, wrongful detention, physical attacks, and deaths in custody – are increasingly targeted by police and officials for punishment.

Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Link to original story on RFA website