China: Airport bomber's brother vows to pursue compensation claim

2013-09-20

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

The relatives of a wheelchair-bound man on trial for setting off an explosion at Beijing's International Capital Airport in July have vowed to continue to pursue his compensation claim over a police beating in Guangdong which left him permanently disabled.

Ji Zhongji, brother of Ji Zhongxing, who went on trial at a Beijing court this week for causing the blast, called on China's judicial authorities to deal "fairly" with his brother's cause.

"I am planning to go to Dongguan [to pursue his claim] over his injuries," Ji told RFA's Cantonese Service at the end of the trial, after which a verdict and sentence will be announced "at a later date," according to court officials.

Ji Zhongxing, 34, attended his trial at the Beijing Chaoyang District People's Court on Wednesday in a stretcher after he set off the blast at Terminal 3 of Beijing's International Capital Airport on July 20.

Official media said a police officer at the scene suffered minor injuries from the explosion, although Ji appears to have sustained deep burns from the blast himself, according to photos made public by his family.

Ji, who could face a jail term of three to 10 years if found guilty of causing the blast, told the court he had detonated the explosives unintentionally, and begged for forgiveness.

Sources in Guangdong have previously said that the bombing incident had sent shock waves through local government in Dongguan, where the alleged police brutality took place.

However, officials have yet to comment publicly on Ji's case.

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 July 20 bombing incident showed Ji calling on bystanders to stand clear ahead of the blast, and his action drew widespread sympathy online, where public anger is mounting over brutal law enforcement tactics.

"Ji Zhongxing didn't intentionally cause this explosion," Beijing-based rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan said after the trial. "So, according to the law, it should be treated as an accidental explosion."

"Also, there were no serious after-effects ... so he has no criminal responsibility ... from a lawyer's point of view," he said. "However, I don't know what the court will decide."

Second blast

Just one day after Ji's trial, a second airport blast took place, this time in the central city of Wuhan.

A man was arrested on suspicion of setting off firecrackers on Wednesday morning at Terminal 2 of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, state-run broadcaster CCTV said on its verified microblog account on Sina Weibo Thursday.

"The man, in his 70s, was lying in the firecracker rubble, causing a scene at the airport," the tweet said. "No injuries were reported."

An employee who answered the phone at the Wuhan mayor's direct line on Thursday declined to comment, although her comments made to colleagues during the phone call appeared to confirm that a blast had occurred.

"It's a radio station trying to get through on the mayor's direct line, and they want us to ask about the explosion at Tianhe airport and how we're dealing with it," the employee said.

Her colleague responded audibly: "Radio Free Asia is an enemy station."

No solution

The recent blasts at Chinese airports are symptomatic of a deep social tensions and injustice with no immediate solution, according to veteran Wuhan democracy activist Qin Yongmin.

"People have suffered great injustice, but there is no way to resolve it, so that all they can do is to create an incident with the greatest amount of impact, to force the authorities to pay attention to the injustice [of their situation]," Qin said.

"China has had similar incidents for a long time now [because] the rule of law doesn't operate; there is no [judicial] independence," he said.

"If the law doesn't give justice, then there is nothing to be done, which leads to people with grievances taking these sorts of actions."

Qin, who has himself served lengthy jail terms for helping to set up the banned opposition China Democracy Party (CDP), called on the authorities to base their judgements on a rational appraisal of evidence, rather than political considerations.

"This is the only way forward," Qin said. "This is a warning bell that means the result [of ignoring it] could be some truly terrible disaster and calamity."

Reported by Jiang Pei for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Link to original story on RFA website