On April 23, Jia Jiuxiang, a senior Court Official from the city of San Men Xia in Henan Province died just 10 days after he was placed in Shuanqui (a disciplinary measure outside the regular legal system in which Party members are detained and interrogated). This is the second similar case following another official from Wen Zhou City in Zhe Jiang Province, who also died during Shuanqui. According to Jia’s wife and sister who managed to see Jia’s body, his body showed obvious signs that he had been beaten.
Si Weijing, the defense attorney working on the case, told BBC Chinese that he has asked for an investigation of the case. Si also mentioned that, this time, it appeared that the Chinese media did not seem to block the news report on Jia’s death. Some commentators suggested that, if the official media covered this case, it may indicate that the central administration has started to pay attention to the rights of those people who are under Shuanqui.
According to Si Weijiang, China has adopted some changes to the legal system which restrict the illegal measures used during interrogation of suspects. However since Shuanqui is an internal disciplinary measure used within the Party system, it is not subject to the requirements of the legal system. Therefore a person under Shuanqui can be denied the right to sleep and is also subject to all kinds of torture. Si told the BBC, “The central administration has tried to curb corruption for so many years, but corruption does not appear to be contained. Therefore Shuanqui, a disciplinary measure that is outside of the legal system, is not an ideal way to fix the problem.”
Source: BBC Chinese, April 24, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/china/2013/04/130424_henan_death_official.shtml