As Wang Lijun, the former police chief of Chongqing, is facing potential treason charges, the police officials who once had close ties with him have also been detained by central investigators. From Edward Wong at New York Times:
The two detained police officials are Tang Jianhua, a deputy police chief in Chongqing, and Wang Pengfei, former department head of Yubei district. Both were escorted out of Chongqing in June by security officers on the orders of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission, the Communist Party’s anticorruption body and one of the lead agencies in the far-reaching inquiries into Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai, the former party chief of Chongqing and a deposed Politburo member.
[…] Wang Pengfei and Mr. Li both followed Wang Lijun from the northeast province of Liaoning to take posts in Chongqing after Mr. Wang was appointed police chief of Chongqing by Mr. Bo. Together, the men carried out a campaign against what they called at the time organized-crime gangs; the campaign also involved persecutions of private businesspeople and enemies of Mr. Bo and his allies, and it is now being widely criticized.
According to the New York Times, some political analysts suggest that the potential charges Mr. Wang is facing could be lightened due to his help with the investigation of Bo Xilai and his wife, Gu Kailai, who has been accused of involvement in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. But still, the foreseeable future for the former “strike black” hero is not too bright:
[…] Central investigators have assigned many officials to collect evidence of recent torture by police officers in Chongqing, said one of the people with police contacts. “The case against Wang Lijun could turn out to be more severe than what most ordinary people think,” he said.
In April, the party official then in charge of the powerful politics and law committee, Liu Guanglei, told police officials at a meeting that they should admit to any instances in which they had used torture. The meeting signaled the start of a wider inquiry into the “strike black” campaign.
Read more about Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai via China Digital Times.
