Officials accused of entrapment in man’s suicide note
Print Edition
A MAN who claimed he was falsely accused of operating an illegal motorcycle taxi service committed suicide earlier this month at a local government building in Lanshan County, central China’s Hunan Province.
Chen Zuoxiong was found hanged in an unused office at the county’s road transport administration building by cleaners on July 14, The Beijing News reported yesterday.
On the wall, he had written the words: “Please demand justice for me.”
The 60-year-old had earlier claimed to have been a victim of entrapment, and 16 witnesses confirmed his story, the report said.
On July 12, Chen was sitting on his stationary motorbike in Lanshan when a man approached him and asked him for a lift. The witnesses said Chen at first refused but after much begging on the part of the would-be passenger, he agreed.
But as soon as Chen started his engine, the pillion leaned forward, switched it off and removed the key. The passenger then made a phone call and moments later, a car arrived carrying three men in plainclothes.
An argument broke out between Chen and the new arrivals, and the trio returned to the car and drove away. Soon after, a minivan arrived carrying “four or five” law enforcement officials.
Chen appealed to the officials, claiming he had been hoodwinked into offering to give the mystery man a ride on his motorbike.
The officials, however, were unimpressed and one of them mounted the motorbike and rode it away, the report said.
After losing his vehicle, Chen returned home, where it appears he filled out a petitioning paper.
In the document, which was found in his bedroom after he committed suicide, Chen said he had borrowed the motorcycle to take his wife and granddaughter to the bus station on the morning of July 12. On his return, officials from the transport administration seized the vehicle, it said, adding that Chen was worried as he couldn’t afford to reimburse the person from whom he had borrowed the bike.
On the afternoon of July 12, Chen was recorded by surveillance cameras entering the administration building.
The Beijing News said that prior to July 12, police had seized three other motorcycles owned by Chen. Each time, he was told they were being taken as he didn’t have a license and was operating an illegal motorcycle taxi service.
His family said that on each of those occasions Chen admitted to the crime and therefore did not attempt to reclaim the bikes. But on July 12, he was adamant he had been set up, the report said.
According to an official investigation report, law enforcement officials acted properly in seizing Chen’s motorcycle as he was unable to provide the necessary documents when asked to do so.
It claimed the law enforcement team comprised traffic police and officials from the county’s road transport agency. However, Zhao Xiaomin, head of the agency, said he had not sent any officials to take part in such an operation on that day, according to The Beijing News report.
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