Six officials received prison sentences ranging from four to fourteen years at the end of last month following the death of SOE employee Yu Qiyi during an interrogation in April. Punishment for abuses in the Party’s shuanggui disciplinary system is rare, but the accused, lawyers on both sides, and Yu’s ex-wife all agreed that the officials’ superiors should have been held responsible. From Sui-Lee Wee at Reuters:
“In reality, they want to control the scope of people who can be targeted for this,” said Pu Zhiqiang, a lawyer for Yu’s family, referring to the trial.
[…] All six men had testified that Yu was deprived of sleep and beaten during his extra-judicial detention, according to a defense statement by Chi [Susheng, a lawyer for one of the accused], who cited testimony from the accused. Her statement was seen by Reuters.
But they insisted they had treated Yu harshly at the behest of more senior officials in the commission, according to the statement.
“The higher-up officials have not been held accountable, don’t you think this is unfair?” Yu’s ex-wife, Wu Qian, told Reuters by telephone from Wenzhou. “We are very dissatisfied that the main culprits have not been brought to justice.” [Source]
