It has been one month since the migrant worker Zhou Xiuyun was beaten to death by Taiyuan local police when she was collecting her overdue salary. During the incident, her husband Wang Youzhi was also beaten up, and as a result, four of his ribs were broken. Other than Taiyuan Procuratorate’s filing the case and detaining three policemen, the Taiyuan local authorities have done nothing and have not responded to Citizen Power and other NOGs for their alleged power abuse, intentional injury, illegal detention, negligence, as well as our calls for investigation into the real-east developers and constructors that delayed payment of salaries.
Twenty-five days after the tragedy, Zhou’s family brought the charges of 32 suspects to Shanxi Province Procuratorate for their alleged intentional homicide, intentional injury, illegal detention, and abuse of power. They also accused Chief Procurator Zhou Maoyu of Taiyuan Procuratorate and Chief Procurator Zhang Hongliang of Taiyuan Xiiaodian District Procuratorate of negligence. They demanded the higher-level Procuratorate to bring the case under the jurisdiction of Henan Province prosecutors. Citizen Power fully supports them and calls on all Chinese citizens to support their legitimate judicial move.
According to several witnesses, many Zhou’s colleagues took pictures of or videotaped the incident with their cell phones, eleven of which were later confiscated by the police. When they got their phones back, all the photos and videos were gone.
The parties involved allegedly destroyed and forged evidence. Judicial staff should be subject to charges of implicated offences of bending law for selfish ends or misuse of law in adjudication. According to Article 307 Paragraph 2 under Criminal Law, the suspects are subject to a maximum of three years’ imprisonment or criminal detention. We therefore urge all citizens not to neglect the fact that the police confiscated the witnesses’ cell phones. It is a standard practice of the Chinese authorities to act in favor of criminals by confiscating and destroying pictures and video footage any witness takes.
We note that a movement sponsored by private scholars is underway – jointly signing ” The Petition for Victims in Shanxi Zhou Xiuyun Case on Dec.13″
(http://www.redchinacn.net/
Citizen Power appeals to citizens in all walks of life to be signatories of the petition and, as the Petition says, to “fight for a society of more security and dignity.”
January 13, 2015