2014-08-14
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Chinese police take away an elderly woman for petitioning on Tiananmen Square, Dec. 4, 2013.
AFP
A court in the Chinese capital has tried two men for the unlawful detention and injury of a petitioner from the eastern province of Anhui, who says he was tortured inside an unofficial detention center, or “black jail.”
Wang Weilong said he was dragged away by the men outside the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing after filing a petition in 2012.
He accused one of three men, Xing Di, Zhang Wei and Pang Taifeng, of hitting his head with a bell, and of stabbing him with a burning metal prong, the Beijing News reported.
In an interview with RFA on Thursday, Wang said the trial had taken place at Daxing District People’s Court in Beijing on Wednesday, lasting a little more than two hours.
“The hearing lasted more than two hours,” Wang said. “However … they didn’t read out an official account of my injuries, and I never saw one. As victims, we have the right to know the level of injuries we are judged to have suffered.”
“Also, only Xing Di, Zhang Wei and Pang Taifeng were present, of the people who locked up the petitioners,” he said. “There was no one there from behind the scenes.”
No verdict or sentencing was announced at the time, Wang added.
Wang told local media that more than a dozen petitioners from other provinces were kept at the black jail during his incarceration there, and has blamed interceptors sent by local governments to muzzle complaints about them in Beijing.
He said his injuries have since prevented him from working.
“There were more than 10 of them in total [who detained us],” Wang said. “There were procedural issues on the part of both the police and the prosecution. They should at least have told us whether our injuries were being considered light or serious.”
He added: “If I’m dissatisfied with the decision, then I’ll file another lawsuit.”
Lenient sentencing
Rights lawyer Chi Susheng said sentencing in similar cases has usually been extremely lenient.
