China Romance
General Discussion and Useful Links => The Campfire => Topic started by: Rhonald on May 12, 2010, 11:34:27 pm
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Tue May 11, 9:13 AM
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man who was supposedly hacked to death in a fight has reappeared in his hometown after 10 years, state media said, raising questions about police torture to extract a confession from the alleged killer.
Zhao Zuohai, the supposed killer, was acquitted of the crime and released by a Henan court on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua said, citing a court press conference on Sunday.
He had served 10 years of a 29-year sentence after confessing to killing Zhao Zhenshang in a hatchet fight in central China's Henan province, the China Daily reported this weekend.
A headless body was found in a village well about a year after the fight, at which point Zhao was arrested and confessed to the killing.
The victim, Zhao Zhenshang, reappeared in the village on May 2 to seek welfare support. He had fled after the fight because he feared he had killed the now-imprisoned Zhao.
Convictions in the Chinese court system are strongly dependent on confessions, motivating police to use force to get a confession and close the case.
A series of deaths in police custody over the last year has emboldened reformers and aided a fight by the Ministry of Justice to wrest control of detention centres from the police.
The courts conducted an audit of all death penalty cases after a woman in Hubei province reappeared over a decade after her husband, She Xianglin, was jailed for her murder, in a case that also rested on his confession to police.
Relatives who maintained She's innocence were also jailed.
The imprisoned Zhao's brother told the local Dahe Newspaper that police had forced him to drink chili water and set off fireworks over his head to force the confession.
The imprisoned Zhao narrowly escaped being executed for the crime. His sentence was commuted from a death penalty with two years' reprieve.
While in prison, his wife left him for another man and three of his four children were given to other families for adoption, the China Daily said.
(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
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WOW...how sad is that?
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Wow! That really sucks!
Dave C
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there were two such cases similiar this week almost exactly in nature???
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One of lifes events that makes us say 'thank god it was not me'. One good point is that the Chinese system is not as bad as many make it out to be. He was not executed. But lives to start life anew. Late in life but he still lives. Many others in the world have not.
The most famous of English miscarriages involved a young man who was just over 18 and had been arrested by police on the roof of a store in Croydon. The police were physically holding him. His 17 year old accomplice had a gun and he fired at police. The police ordered him to hand over the gun. The youth in custody called out for him to 'give it to them Chris.' The police advanced, a shot was fired and a policeman was killed. The other men was arrested before he fire again.
This one got life as he was under 18 but the other, Derrick Bentley was sentenced to death, even though he was under arrest at the time the shot was fired. It was intimated to the jury that when he said 'give it to them Chris' he meant for Chris to shoot at the police. When he probably meant hand the gun over. We will never know because they hanged him and a few years ago he was eventually given a reprieve. Sorry we made a mistake in killing you 30 odd years ago!!
Willy
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Geez... convicted of murder without a body?!?
And a question of semantics, even with no translator to muddy the waters, how could a jury decide without a shadow of doubt what the guy MEANT?[/align]
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odysseus007,
That's real common these days, as in many situations you do not need a body to convict.
Depends on the evidence against you like, witnesses, DNA, and a whole heap of any other scientific evidence. So why would you need a body, when everything else is pointing the finger at you??
As for the Chinese situation above, that's a completly different kettle of fish, they still depend on confessional evidence that they will try to gain any way they can....
David......
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They have an easier way now to get quick confessions - no violence. They threaten suspects with having to wear one of those shirts for a week!
Willy
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I can see it now;
The top 10 crewel and inhuman was to extract information from your prisoner.
1. Waterboarding
2. Wearing one of Ted's flowery shirts.
3. The Rack
4. Wearing one of Shaun's flowery shirts.
5. Bamboo shoots under the fingernails
6. Listening to Ted and Shaun talk about flowery shirts.
7. I just don't even care about 7-10. I'm too depressed about this.
SO what was this thread about anyway?
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I can see it now;
The top 10 crewel and inhuman was to extract information from your prisoner.
1. Waterboarding
2. Wearing one of Ted's flowery shirts.
3. The Rack
4. Wearing one of Shaun's flowery shirts.
5. Bamboo shoots under the fingernails
6. Listening to Ted and Shaun talk about flowery shirts.
7. I just don't even care about 7-10. I'm too depressed about this.
SO what was this thread about anyway?
Flowery shirts I think shaun....:icon_cheesygrin::icon_cheesygrin:
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love the avatar Rob. ;)
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this situation appears to be more like "The Kardashains" 8)
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Yeah Rocky, thought it was perfect for me... ;D ;D