Investigation questions detained judge's 'suicide'
An outspoken newspaper in Guangdong has questioned the legitimacy of the trials in Chongqing's high-profile crackdown on organised crime.
A lengthy investigative report on the front page of the Southern Weekly on Thursday highlighted the unusual circumstances surrounding the suicide of a senior judge in a detention house, as well as complaints from lawyers about the secretive approach to prosecuting underworld activities.
The report came as the overseas media was paying close attention to the relations between Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai and his predecessor, Guangdong party boss Wang Yang .
Chongqing authorities said former judge Wu Xiaoqing , 57, had committed suicide in his cell on November 28 'due to dreading punishment'. But the Southern Weekly said the death epitomised the illegal interrogations of some of the 2,900 suspects held in the crackdown.
A former colleague of Wu, who declined to be named, said his death was 'very suspicious' as the former judge had confessed to all of his crimes in the five months since his arrest for corruption in June, and would have known that he could not have been sentenced to death.
'Usually, suspects commit suicide when they are arrested due to huge pressure and an attempt to protect accomplices,' the former colleague was quoted as saying.
'This didn't apply to Wu. He had confessed his crimes and returned all bribes. The interrogation had entered the final stage, and as a legal expert, he knew he would not be executed under the law.'
Police said Wu, the former director of the municipal high court's enforcement bureau, was charged with taking 3.6 million yuan (HK$4.1 million) in bribes from gangsters from 1998 to 2008, and was unable to explain a further 5 million yuan.
The judge's younger brother also questioned the suicide. The brother said it was strange that duty prison officers and three cell mates were all asleep when Wu hanged himself at noon. He was not spotted hanging for 40 minutes, despite high-tech surveillance equipment.
Guangzhou lawyer Zhou Yuzhong questioned whether an inmate could hang himself using the drawstring of his underwear, as authorities announced.
'To prevent inmates from committing suicide, no detention house in the country would allow prisoners to wear clothes with a drawstring,' he told Guangzhou's New Express.
The Southern Weekly report said a 200-man investigation team was operating in a secretive way, and lawyers were not allowed to meet defendants or read their confessions.
Chongqing lawyer Wei Feng said most family members and lawyers were not told where defendants were detained.
Wei attended one of the trials with 42 other defence lawyers and said many of them believed the charges of organised crime were groundless.
'A lawyer even shouted to the judge that he shouldn't use under-the-table methods to clamp down on underworld activities,' he told the Southern Weekly. Wei said dozens of employees of a company where he had provided counsel were detained after one shareholder was named as a gangster by police.
Chongqing lawyer Zhou Litai said he worried that the secrecy would weaken the impact of the crackdown.
