Society
Jail terms for police involved in teenager's death upheld
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-02 15:15
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XI'AN: A court in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Tuesday upheld jail terms for four police officers in connection with the death of a 19-year-old student in custody last year.
The Intermediate People's Court in Shangluo City rejected the four officers' appeals against the first trial sentences, handed down at a local court in Shangnan County in November.
Xu died in hospital on March 8, half an hour after suddenly falling ill while in custody. He had been in detention since February 28 for the suspected murder of a schoolgirl.
Medical examiners said Xu had a heart condition that had been aggravated by fatigue and injuries incurred during his interrogation and it eventually killed him.
At the first trial in November, Yan Yaofeng, former head of the Public Security Bureau of Danfeng County, was sentenced to two years in jail for abusing his authority.
Zhao Shuo, political instructor of the bureau's criminal police squad, was sentenced to two and a half years and policeman Jia Yangang to one and half years for extorting confessions by torture.
Li Hongwei, a policeman of the Public Security Bureau of Shangluo City, was sentenced to one year in jail with a one-year reprieve for the same crime.
The intermediate court said in a statement Tuesday the sentences were "fair and proper."
Wang Qingbao, former disciplinary chief of the county's police bureau, was accused of dereliction of duty, but was exempted from a criminal penalty.
