Society
Suspect's death raises stink
By Yan Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-23 08:52
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BEIJING - Authorities in Hubei province have launched an investigation into the death of a suspected thief at a police station last week, the Beijing News reported on Monday.
Fu Gui, a 40-year-old villager, was found dead in the toilet of a police station in Huangji town of Xiangfan city on Friday, just hours after he was detained for allegedly stealing cargo from a truck that was involved in a road accident near his village.
Fu was rushed to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, Fu's wife Huang Guoqiao told Beijing News. She added that a police officer told her Fu consumed a pesticide kept in the toilet.
Huang alleged that her husband committed suicide as a result of police torture, the report said.
Huang said her husband phoned her minutes before ending his life.
"He said he couldn't take it any more," she said, insisting that he was referring to police torture.
Fu's relatives said they saw bruises and bloodstains on the deceased's body, which was placed in a local funeral parlor on Friday.
"If he was not beaten, how can the bruises and the blood be explained?" Huang asked.
She also questioned why a bottle of pesticide was kept in the toilet of a police station.
Local authorities have launched an investigation into the incident and an autopsy report is still pending, the Beijing News quoted Zhao Xinsheng, deputy head of the district's publicity department, as saying.
The cause of Fu's death will be confirmed only when the autopsy report is released in about 20 days, Zhao said.
Calls to Zhao's office went unanswered on Monday.
According to the Beijing News, Zhao rejected Huang's accusations that police officers had tortured Fu, saying the police did not need to resort to violence as cargo snatching is only a minor offense.
Zhao told the newspaper that the pesticide was kept in the toilet to kill mosquitoes and other pests.
The local procuratorate department has taken charge of the case, he said.
