Society

Officer in court for double killing

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-18 08:06

Guiyang - A former town police chief who allegedly shot dead two unarmed villagers in Southwest China's Guizhou province in January went on trial at a local court on Friday.

Zhang Lei, deputy chief of the local police station in Pogong town, is charged with intentional homicide.

He is appearing in Zunyi Intermediate People's Court.

Zhang allegedly shot both men in the head after he intervened in a fight between the pair, named Guo Yongzhi and Guo Yonghua, and two other men at a local fair on Jan 12.

Autopsy reports showed Guo Yongzhi was shot twice - in the right thigh and head - while Guo Yonghua died from a single shot to the head.

Zhang was detained on Feb 10 and officially arrested two days later on the charge of intentional homicide.

According to the indictment from the local prosecutors' office, the victims assaulted the police officer after he fired warning shots into the sky.

The prosecutor said Zhang had resorted to excessive force in defending himself. He said there was no apparent life-threatening danger from the unarmed men.

The indictment also pointed out that the defendant surrendered to local police and gave a full account of his actions immediately after the killings, which would be considered in mitigating a penalty should he be found guilty.

The court closed without announcing a verdict.

Relatives of the victims were unhappy and insisted that mystery still surrounded the fatal shootings, according to a report by Chongqing Morning Post on Friday.

Relatives said Zhang's second shot at Guo Yongzhi was done with intent to kill because he could have stopped shooting after incapacitating him.

The relatives also claimed the men had not tried to attack the police officer, the newspaper said.

The case, together with other similar incidents in which police officers have shot suspects, has caused an uproar and led to wider claims of abuse of power by local governments and criticism of their apparent lack of transparency in dealing with such cases.

Public complaints centered on the hasty conclusion drawn by the local government in Anshun, where the killing took place, which said on the day following the killings that the victims had tried to assault the police officer and grab his gun and that the officer "lacked experience" in such situations.

The government also said both slain men were drunk at the time of the incident.

Suspicions were also raised when it became known that the township government paid the families of the dead men 350,000 yuan ($51,470) on the day following the shootings, which made many wonder why the money was paid so quickly.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/18/2010 page3)