Society

Wrongly detained worker denied compensation

By Zheng Caixiong and Shen Yifei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-29 07:33

SHENZHEN: A migrant worker who had wrongly been placed in a detention house for 211 days was rejected in his attempt to seek State compensation after being declared innocent and released without charges.

Police detained Zhang Shangqiang of Sichuan province after he tried to help mediate a fight between his fellow villagers in the Nanshan district of Shenzhen on Feb 28.

Zhang was placed in a detention house after police officers reportedly mistook his mediation for extortion.

Zhang was transferred to the Nanshan district people's procuratorate on May 20.

However, before the case was scheduled for a hearing, the public prosecutor dropped the case and released him in September after Zhang was found to be innocent, authorities said.

"I have suffered a lot, both physically and mentally, after I was wrongly put into a detention house," said Zhang, who used to operate a small store in Shenzhen bordering Hong Kong.

After his release, Zhang was diagnosed with a kidney condition that will require him to take medication for the rest of his life to help control the disease.

But the Nanshan district people's procuratorate did not accept Zhang's application for State compensation.

Wang Qian, deputy director of the publicity department for the Nanshan procuratorate, did not want to comment on why the application was rejected.

"The procuratorate will hold a press conference to talk about Zhang's case on Tuesday," Wang told China Daily yesterday.

Xu Dejun, a lawyer with the Shenzhen-based Zhongyida Law Office, said Zhang can apply for compensation based on being wrongly held in a detention house for more than seven months.

"Zhang can go directly to the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court to seek State compensation if his appeal is rejected by the Nanshan district procuratorate's upper authority, the Shenzhen intermediate people's procuratorate," Xu told China Daily yesterday.

Xu said the State should help Zhang pay all his medical fees if Zhang is confirmed to have contracted the disease while he was in the detention house.

An official at the Shenzhen city bureau of labor and social security did not want to comment on the case.

"The bureau handles only labor disputes between migrant workers and their employers," said the official, who did not want to reveal her name.

She said the bureau never mediates disputes between migrant workers and government administrative units.