The Guardian’s Tania Branigan describes the story of Tian Lan, who says she was pushed out of the Beijing police and imprisoned for a year for leaking details of corruption to a journalist. Tian was detained last week after attending a protest outside the trial of New Citizens’ Movement founder Xu Zhiyong.
Tian – a once-praised officer who became a protester and now detainee – is a vivid example of how swiftly people who never contemplated challenging authority can find themselves on the other side of the system.
[…] Earlier this month Tian told the Guardian that she was framed, jailed and forced to leave the police for blowing the whistle on a neighbouring district’s officers. Her subsequent attempts to overturn the injustice transformed her attitude to protesters and petitioners, she said.
“Before, I thought they must have done something wrong or they wouldn’t get embroiled in these cases.
“My experience totally changed my mind,” she said.
While Tian’s case might sound like an anomaly, she said she was one of around 200 former officials from the police and justice system – including a judge – who are seeking redress after suffering because they revealed, or refused to go along with, wrongdoing by others. [Source]
