Another citizen-journalism piece by Li Xinde, translated from his Yulun Jiandu Net by CDT:
A family with two daughters (one pictured above) pitted the grandparents against the young couple and resulted in a cop committing murder, in a case which could well become a national scandal. Daughters are second-class children, still, in many of China’s rural areas, such as this one in Zhongshan District (Èíü±±Âå∫) of Liupanshui City (ÂÖ≠ÁõòÊ∞¥Â∏Ç) in Guizhou Province.
In May 2006, Ms. Chen Hong (ÈôàÁ∫¢)’s father in-law traveled from a dozen miles away to visit his daughter in-law, and more importantly to persuade his second son to divorce Chen. Ding Fayou (‰∏ÅÂèëÂèã), the son, refused his father, who cursed him and left in frustration. Chen’s brothers and sister, angered, went back to Ding’s parents’ house to fetch Chen’s daughters, who were staying with their grandparents, but right there the Chen brothers and sisters received another round of angry and dirty words.
The Ding family, excluding Chen’s husband, were still not over this. They sought help from a couple of policemen they know well to further “vent their anger.” This time, a supposedly domestic fight ended by costing a life, Chen’s younger brother Chen Jun (‚╬¨√¶¬∏).
Around 8pm, Liu Deyong (ÂàòÂæ≥Âãá), along with another policeman and two Ding brothers, went to Chen’s home, where her sister Chen Qin and a daughter were at home. Without producing a search warrant, Liu and the invaders raided the house and slapped the face of Chen’s sister. With Chen Qin fighting back, Liu even directed his gang to rape her, and a hesitant Ding brother soon dragged the woman into the bedroom.
When dogs started barking outside the house after the fights, the intruders soon started to leave, and Chen Qin rushed to chase them while shouting “policemen are beating people!” When Ding Fayou, Chen’s husband, rushed back on his motorbike, he questioned Liu about why he beat his sister in-law. Liu abruptly took out his gun and shot at Ding. Fortunately, one of Ding’s brothers tripped Ding, sparing his life.
But when Chen’s brother Chen Jun showed up at the scene, he wasn’t that lucky. Not at all hesitant, Liu pointed his gun at Chen Jun’s chest and threatened, “if you keep nagging I will let you eat the bullet.” Afraid, Chen stepped back against a wall 10 meters away. Liu went up against the retreating Chen, gun in hand. The bullet was fired and the 23-year-old Chen fell in his blood. By the time he was rushed to the hospital, he was already dead.
While the Chen family was busy filing the complaint and seeking justice for their deceased brother, the authorities brought up false testimonies and managed to rig the system to rule that Liu was acting in self-defense while fighting with Chen Jun for the gun. The reporter learned from a number of witnesses that night that Liu was seen proactively firing the shot and the autopsy showed a 46-degree downward bullet trajectory, defying the argument that the shot was fired during a fight.
Liu, the policeman who killed Chen, was transferred to a detention house in the same city, continuing his career, while Chen, her family and her husband have started a never-ending petition “career,” all the way up to Beijing. The husband was recently intercepted while in Beijing and was put under detention. [Full Text in Chinese]
