Authorities investigating parole case

Inner Mongolia inmate on medical leave didn't go back to prison for years

Authorities are investigating a case in which an inmate was allegedly released on parole for medical services without serving his prison term of 15 years for intentional homicide, the political and legal affairs authorities of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region said in a statement on Sunday.

A joint team consisting of officials from the local Party committee, discipline watchdog, judiciary, procuratorate, police and prison authorities arrived at Hulunbuir in the region on Friday after the case was recently disclosed in the media.

Authorities will release relevant information to the public in a timely manner after the investigation is completed and hold relevant personnel accountable, the statement said.

It was reported that Batmenkh, from Hulunbuir, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for intentional homicide but never spent a day in prison. He was even elected a village director later.

Batmenkh was sent to prison in 2017 after years of complaints from the victim's mother, who now wants the people behind his original case to be revealed, according to a China Central Television news report.

In 1992, Batmenkh, then 17, stabbed his friend, Bai Yongchun, with a knife during a quarrel, causing Bai to bleed to death.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for intentional homicide by the Hulunbuir Intermediate People's Court in 1993. Citing severe health problems, Batmenkh didn't go to prison after the judgment took effect and returned home, according to the report.

After getting the release certificate for finishing his prison term in 2007, he served as a village chief and even as a deputy to the people's congress of the Chen Barga Banner.

For years, Han Jie, the mother of the victim, had reported the problem to government departments. In 2016, police formed a team to deal with the case, the CCTV report said.

An investigation found that Batmenkh's family members helped him apply for medical parole in 1993 because he had kidney disease, but he didn't return to the detention center when the one-year parole term expired, according to the report.

In 2017, Batmenkh was taken to prison by police and was ordered by the court to serve the remainder of his prison sentence－about 13 years and seven months. He had spent about 500 days in a detention center before being granted medical parole, the report said.

In 2018, Batmenkh was sentenced to three years in prison for corruption by a local court. Combined with his previous prison term, of which he had already served an additional year, the court decided to give him a 15-year sentence in total.

Media reports quoted Han as questioning the parole procedure and saying she hoped those responsible for Batmenkh's case would be held accountable.