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Mark O'Neill

A court has sentenced two policemen to suspended prison terms for torturing a fellow officer to obtain a murder conviction that nearly led to his execution.

The case of Du Peiwu, 33, an officer in the drug rehabilitation division of the police in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, shook China's justice establishment by showing that even an officer with an impeccable record could be wrongfully convicted.

On April 22, 1998, Mr Du was detained and in August charged with the murder of his wife and her lover, both police officers, on April 4 in Kunming. He denied the accusations and said he had spent the night of the murders in a police dormitory preparing for a law exam.

But a team of police investigators led by Ning Xinghua and Qin Bolian tortured Mr Du to force him to confess, the Legal Daily  reported on Saturday.

'They subjected him to incessant questioning, did not let him sleep, beat him on the legs and feet and compelled him to admit to the murders,' it said.

The Wuhua District People's Court of Kunming sentenced Ning to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, and Qin to 12 months, suspended for one year, it said. 'It was their torture and fabrication of evidence that led to the death sentence of an innocent officer,' the paper said.

It said the two men no longer held their posts in the criminal investigation department but did not give their current employment.

In February 1999, a middle court in Kunming sentenced Mr Du to death. He appealed to the High Court of Yunnan, which in October that year ruled that some police evidence was suspect and suspended his death sentence for two years.

In June last year, police arrested a gang that over the previous three years had committed 23 crimes, including the murder of 19 people and the theft of 20 cars. Its members confessed to killing the two officers and Mr Du was released last July after 26 months in prison. The same month police suspended Ning and Qin and ordered they be investigated.

Mr Du spent the first 10 days of his freedom at home but suffered terrible headaches. He was admitted to hospital, where a doctor said his brain had been affected, making it difficult to concentrate.

On November 9 last year, the Government gave Mr Du 38,500 yuan (HK$36,000) in back wages and benefits.

After his release Mr Du recounted being manacled hand and foot. 'From the evening of June 30 until July 19, for 21 days and nights, I was tortured until my body and soul could bear it no longer,' he said. 'Many of the details I do not want to say. I did not want to live any more and decided to die as soon as possible. To achieve this, I admitted my guilt and cooked up a story of how I committed the murder.'



Police tortured officer in murder case