Society

Prosecutors probe detainee death from 'fever'

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-23 16:59

HARBIN - Prosecutors in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province are investigating the death of a detainee after netizens questioned the police explanation he died from a cold and a fever, local police said Wednesday.

Wang Lijia, 57, a farmer from Harbin, the provincial capital, was detained on May 28 on suspicion of racketeering, and he was transferred to a detention center in Shuangcheng City on June 7, a Heilongjiang police officer surnamed Sun said.

Wang began to display symptoms of fever at about 2 am on June 17 and was taken to a hospital in Shuangcheng. Doctors gave him medication and he was then taken back to the detention center, Sun said.

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Wang felt sick at about 5 a.m. and was rushed to the hospital again. He died at about 8 a.m. after emergency treatment failed, Sun added.

The provincial public security administration conducted an autopsy on June 18, and the report is expected to be released in July.

The Beijing News reported Wednesday Wang was detained on suspicion of having cheated the local government out of land requisition compensation.

Wang's family members doubt the police explanation for the death after they found a number of injuries on his body, the report said.

They said Wang was healthy and he did farm work, according to the report.

A coroner who participated in the autopsy said he believes Wang died of normal causes, partially because of the corpse spots on his body and the electric-shock marks on his chest left by the doctors who tried to revive him, Sun said.