Inspection team releases report on handling of commutations

A few prison officers may have improperly enforced laws, disobeyed work discipline and derelicted their duties when giving commutations to a former prisoner, a Beijing joint inspection team said on Saturday.

The team, led by the capital's Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China, began its inspection on March 31 after the now-released prisoner surnamed Guo came into the public eye following an alleged killing during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

On March 14, Guo, 37 and a Beijing native, quarreled with a 72-year-old man surnamed Duan. Duan reminded Guo, who took his face mask off when waiting to pay in a supermarket in the city's Dongcheng district, to wear a mask and abide by the rules for epidemic control.

Guo was unhappy with Duan and injured Duan by hitting his head and neck after pushing him on the ground. Guo was finally caught in the market after injuring two other staff members while trying to escape.

Duan was hospitalized, but died on March 20 from a head injury. Soon, Guo was detained by the No 2 Beijing People's Procuratorate for alleged intentional injury.

As the case hit Chinese headlines, Guo's identity also was heatedly discussed, especially when he was found to have been sentenced to life in prison in 2005 for killing his girlfriend. He received commutations nine times in prison.

On Saturday, the joint team issued its inspection report, saying relevant departments and officers might have engaged in misconduct in law enforcement and dereliction of duty in Guo's frequent sentence reduction.

The report only identified two of the problematic officers as Liu and Sui, both prison officers, adding the capital's supervisory commission has filed a case to investigate them.

It also said Liu and Sui made use of their work positions to illegally provide aid for Guo to help him reduce sentence after accepting "benefits" from Guo's family members and other social relations, with alleged crimes such as bribe acceptance and malpractice.

But details, including what the social relations are, what prison Liu and Sui work for and how many prison officers are involved in the case, have not been released in the report.

The joint team said it will further inspect the case to uphold justice, adding more information will be disclosed to the public in a timely fashion.

Also on Saturday, the Beijing People's Procuratorate and the Beijing High People's Court said they will maintain self-inspection and will not be tolerant when finding prosecutors or judges involved in Guo's case.