It is reported that a migrant worker named Zhou Xiuyun was beaten to death by local police in Taiyuan when she was demanding her overdue salary to be paid. Her husband Wang Youzhi was also beaten up, and as a result four of his ribs were broken. The Taiyuan Procuratorate has issued a warrant to arrest a policeman named Wang for the alleged power abuse. What an astonishing understatement for a such a brutal crime! This simply exposes the Taiyuan local authorities’ motives to cover up the truth in favor of the local police. Citizen Power strongly questions the decision of the Taiyuan Procuratorate and believes that the Taiyuan police are guilty of at least four of the following charges:
(A) Intentional injury that caused Zhou’s death
It was the police brutality that caused Zhou Xiuyun’s death since she reportedly had been in good health prior to the incident.
(B) Illegal detention, beating, and humiliation of victims
It has been reported that the Taiyuan police, without any warrant, arrested Zhou Xiuyun and her husband Wang as well as other migrant workers, and restricted their personal freedom. This is a case of illegal detention.
According to the law, police should be punished severely for beating and humiliating detainees during illegal detentions. Police as part of the state machinery should be severely punished when illegal detentions take place through abuse of power.
(C) Abuse of Power
The local prosecutor argued the case in favor of the suspect in order to keep him from punishment.
(D) Negligence
Police have the duty to provide various kinds of help and protection to the general public when requested. From many reports and video footage, we can see that Zhou showed signs of being on the verge of death after she had been beaten up for more than one hour, but the police did not make any effort in trying to send her to the hospital or give her medical attention. Instead, they stamped on her hair and cursed her for pretending to be dead. They did not realize that they were responsible for Zhou’s plight but intensified their brutality instead. This is a strong case of negligence.
Based on the aforementioned evidence, the Taiyan police should be charged on four violations. Their intentional injury and abuse of power are linked offenses, thus the more severe punishment should apply. The intentional injury along with illegal detention and negligence are implicated offences, thus cumulative punishment should apply. Abuse of power situations cover scenarios which may result in death. If this should be applicable in this case, it would mean that any such violator is subject to only a maximum of seven years imprisonment regardless of the number of deaths he causes , which would be ridiculous. From the viewpoint of legislation, abuse of power certainly does not include intentional injury that may cause death. Moreover, in accordance with the principle that special laws should take precedence over general laws, when the criminal law expressly provides for the offense of intentional injury, the more serious crime, in this case the intentional injury, should apply. This is how the phrase “in accordance to otherwise specified provisions” in Article 397 on the abuse of power should be interpreted.
In addition to the concerns about police brutality, we should not overlook the possibility of real estate developers and construction managers colluding together in not paying overdue salaries to migrant workers. So far, the local authorities’ intervention and media coverage have not touched this issue at all. In this incident, the fact that the police arbitrarily arrested the migrant workers and beat them makes a strong case for organized crime involving developers, managers and local authorities, including the local public security bureau. Citizen Power strongly urges Chinese authorities to investigate the developers and managers for the sake of legal transparency.