Clamping Down on Police Abuse

Posted on 25 March 2010.

In February, a senior police officer stood trial in Chongqing on charges of corruption, rape and protecting criminal gangs.

Wen Qiang was accused of taking more than 16 million yuan (US$2.3 million) in bribes. He had accepted vast sums of money from businesses, officials and criminal gangs in exchange for protection from the law.

At the same time, a further three senior police officials from Chongqing were also on trial for corruption. The previous day, another police official, Yue Cun, had been sentenced to death for similar crimes.

A few weeks later, in Henan province, a police chief was ordered to resign, a deputy chief fired, and four other policemen handed over to prosecutors. All six had been involved in the death of a man whilst in police custody. Wang Yanhui was being interrogated over an alleged theft when he died. His family reported that, when they collected his body, "It showed signs of multiple violent injuries... His nipples had been cut off, his genitals cut and his skull fractured" (BBC).

Chinese authorities have also come under criticism recently for running so-called "black jails". These are described as "unlawful detention centres", often housed in state-run hotels, nursing homes or psychiatric hospitals, which "sprang into existence after a network of official police detention centres used to house people who did not have proper residence permits was closed in 2003." Human Rights Watch reports that, "Ordinary people are often abducted off the streets and taken to illegal detention centres. They are sometimes stripped of their possessions, beaten and given no information about why they have been detained." (BBC)

The Chinese government continues to seek to stamp out corruption and has promised to clamp down on "unnatural deaths" in prisons and detention centres. However, officials continue to deny the existence of "black jails" despite several media reports in China as well as widespread coverage overseas.

Pray concerning the trials of police officers who have engaged in unlawful behaviour. Pray that the truth will come out and that justice will prevail.

Pray that other police officers whose illegal activities still remain unknown might be uncovered and removed from their positions. Pray that any attempts to protect them by friends or colleagues in positions of influence might be thwarted.

Pray that in China "justice might roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream" (Amos 5:24).