The Dalian Police Murder

(Asia Weekly via Observechina)  Dalian Police Committed Murder; Media Forbidden To Report.  By Guo Qiao (郭巧).

[in translation]

A police officer with the Dalian Railroad Department fired five shots to kill a family of three who had showed up to demand compensation.  The local government and publicity department censored all news.  All information on websites were deleted and the media were not allowed to cover the story.  The world still do not know what will happen to police officer Su Kai who fired the shots as well as the results of the police investigation.

On April 26, the sounds of five gunshots rang out in the duty room of the public security bureau in Xiongyuecheng town, Dalian.  A taxi driver Wang Hongwu, his wife and his 62-year-old father were dead.  The police quickly sealed the news so that the local media could not report on the incident.  The Publicity Department forbade the national media from following up.  The truth of the case is being investigated.  But the attempt to black out the news is seriously violating the right of the victims' family and the people as a whole to know.  It is also possible that there is a risk for black box transaction behind the scene.  All this is eroding the people's trust in the local government.

On the day of the incident, the deceased Wang Hongwu's elder brother Wang Hongyuan was standing next to a taxi's door.  He was smoking a cigarette and looking up the stairs three meters away.  That was the entrance to the duty room of the Xiongyuecheng station of the Dalian Railroad Public Security Bureau.

Twenty minutes ago, his father, his brother Wang Hongwu and his sister-in-law had entered the building.  The sister-in-law Wang Jing cast a look at him through the glass window.  He thought that things were going fine inside and so he stood outside chatting with another taxi driver looking for customers.  It was around 3:40pm on the afternoon of April 26, 2007.  The railroad station plaza was filled with taxis, private vehicles and tricycles.  As passengers came and went, the drivers yelled out loudly to them.  About one meter away from the stairs, there is an iron chain to demarcate the boundary -- according to the railroad station's rules, the taxi drivers must not go past the chain to solicit passengers.

Halfway through smoking the cigarette, there were several gunshots inside the building.  At first, Wang thought that it was a glass cup being broken "or maybe the discussion was not going well."  He turned around and saw Wang Jing's body slumping down slowly in front of the window.  Then he got scared.  But immediately, he leaped up, went through the waiting room and raced straight to the duty office.

The duty office was at the top left corner of the waiting room.  The loud thud of the gunshots echoed through the lobby of the waiting room.  People did not know what was happening and they started screaming and running around.  It was a madhouse inside the station.

The door was locked from the inside.  Wang attempted to use his fists to break the door open.  Several minutes later, another uniformed policeman arrived and joined  Wang in shouting.  Finally, the person inside opened the door slightly just enough for a body to come through.

The person who fired the shots -- a policeman named Su Kai was using his left hand to hold the door and his right hand was still holding a gun.  He was trembling as he came to the door.  For the moment, Wang Hongyuan was not concerned about the policeman yet because he was looking at his relatives lying on the ground.

Sixty-two-year-old Wang Changyuan was lying face up in front of the file cabinet.  There was a pool of blood underneath his head.  There did not seem to be any sign of life in him.  His son -- 32-year-old Wang Hongwu -- was lying sideways with his head in front of his father's feet.  29-year-old Wang Jing lied by the table with her hand holding her stomach and her head facing the side of her husband.

Earlier that day at 9am, Wang Hongwu had been picking up customers in his red Santana at the railroad station.  He was from the nearby Liming village.  He had a 12-year-old son.  His wife Wang Jing worked at a clothing store and his mother Ma Wenzhi lived with them.

Wang Hongwu had been driving a tax for more than one year.  Like many young people at Xiongyuecheng town, his life was intimately connected to the railroad station.  According to a taxi driver, there are more than 200 taxis in Xiongyuecheng town and most of them work around the train station and the bus station.

Situated on the major railroad artery in the heart of the northeastern region linking the cities of Dalian and Shenyang, Xiongyuecheng is the eighth station.  There is also one of the first national class A-level scenic areas in Wang'er Mountain.  Then there is the 1.8 square kilometer Xiongyuecheng hot spring which people began to use for health and leisure reasons since the Tang dynasty.  Many tourists come here every day, especially before and after the May 1st weekend.  This was the prime season for the taxi drivers.

According to the nephew Wang Shichao, Wang Hongwu had a fight with the militia police because he attempted to cross over the iron chain to solicit customers.  He characterized Wang Hongwu's taxi as a "black taxi" -- "it did not have an operating license.  There are more than one hundred 'black taxis' in Xiongyuecheng town, and thirty to forty of them wait in front of the railroad station.  The rule enforcers and the illegal drivers often play a game of cat-and-mouse."  Wang Hongwu was sent to the hospital after the clash, but he was alright.  He told the family relatives who came to visit him that he felt so oppressed that he fainted.  The doctor-in-charge examined him and pronounced him to be physically sound (apart from a quick temper).

Wang Hongyuan received a call from a friend who told him what happened to his younger brother.  He hurried to the train station and found that his father Wang Changyuan who runs an audio-visual store nearby was arguing with the militia police.  The Railroad Station public security bureau director had said that if the medical expenses for Wang Hongwu were small enough, then twent back to see the director.  This time, the director told him to see the principal directly.  According to what Wang Changyuan's description to Wang Hongwu, the policeman Su Kai had a good attitude and promised to talk again after Wang Hongwu recovered.

At around 3pm, Wang Changyuan, Wang Hongwu, Wang Hongyuan, Wang Jing and another couple went to the railroad station in two cars to meet with Su Kai.  They arranged for Wang Hongyuan and the two friends to wait outside.  Wang Changyuan, Wang Hongwu and Wang Jing entered the office.

The old lady Ma Wenzhi received a call from his son Wang Hongyuan at around 3:50pm.  His grandson Wang Shichao took her to the railroad station.  While Wang Jing's body was still writhing, there were no signs of life in Wang Changyuan and Wang Hongwu.  The old woman fainted immediately.

"At the time, Su Kai did not leave yet," said Wang Shichao.  He saw the police man pointing his gun at the door and his hands were still trembling continuously.

Wang Hongyuan went to knock on the door of the station chief, but there was no answer.  He came back and dialed 120.  Many people were gathered at the door.  It was noisy and chaotic.  The police blocked the door to prevent outsiders from entering.

The ambulance arrived but there was only one stretcher.  The extremely scared family moved Wang Hongwu onto the stretcher.  Wang Shichao carried his aunt outside.  In the ambulance, he held the hand of his uncle in one hand and the hand of his aunt in his other hand.  He sensed that his uncle was dead.  Wang Jing seemed to be still conscious.  She cried out, "Nephew, I feel pain."  Wang Shichao thought that she was just in shock.  There was some blood on the chest of Wang Hongwu, but Wang Jing looked clean.  When the hospital took a CT, they found out that Wang Jing had been shot in her left abdomen where there was a lot of internal bleeding.  Forty minutes later, the doctor pronounced her dead.

By this time, a curfew was imposed at the Xiongyuecheng Railroad Station.  Inside the station, police lights were flashing.  At the scene of the shooting, a police officer picked up a bullet from the floor.  Ma Wenzhi also found a bullet that had been twisted out of shape next of the window.  At after 11pm that night, Wang Hongwu finally agreed to move the body of his father which had been placed outside the duty room for several hours to the hospital morgue, where the bodies of Wang Hongwu and his wife had already been taken to.

At 11:00pm, the curfew was lifted, but there was a police-warning tape set up five meters in front of the duty office.  The police in the lobby refused to talk about the shooting incident.

On the morning of April 27, the three bodies of the Wang family members underwent autopsy at the local Number Two Hospital.  According to Wang  Hongyuan, "The three Wang family members were shot five times.  The father and son were shot twice each.  Wang Jing was shot once."

"One bullet entered from the left ear of Wang Changyuan and caused severe bleeding inside the cranium; another bullet went through his left shoulder and entered the abdomen area.  Wang Hongwu was shot in the arm and chest, with one of the bullets going through the liver and then into the spine.  When the bullet was taken out, it was obviously flattened."

Traffic at the Xiongyuecheng station has gone back to its former bustling level.  Apart from many more Dalian Railroad public security bureau vehicles with Liaoning license plates, the railroad station is still the battleground among the taxi drivers.  But the fear has not been dissipated.  The passengers going through the station could see the public security duty office being surrounded by police-warning tapes, while the taxi drivers talked about the slaughter that occurred several days ago.

But the general population was not aware of this.  On the day of the incident, Beifang Net published a news report.  But by the next night, it was deleted.  The local media received ban orders not to report on the incident.  On April 28, Yunnan's Chuncheng Evening News and Fujian's Haixia Metropolis Daily made brief reports.  But all the nationally influential newspapers quickly received orders not to report.

The Railroad Department was very shocked at this vicious murder case.  A special case squad composed of more than a dozen police officers from the Dalian Railroad Department sped to Xiongyuecheng town.

On the morning of April 29, the special case squad leader, a deputy director of the Dalian Railroad Public Security Bureau and the Criminal Investigation Division director met with the family of the victims at the Bohai Hostel.  The meeting lasted for twenty minutes without any substantive content.  The purpose was to calm down the emotions of the relatives and make sure that they did not take any rash actions.  In the end, the Public Security Bureau asked for the relatives to designate a representative for discussion.  The family located a lawyer.  But the police seemed to be in a rush and wanted to meet immediately that afternoon.  The family refused.  Wang Shichao said that the sudden deaths of three people have left them all dazed and confused and not knowing what to do.

The police officer Su Kai who fired the shots is 37 years old and has just been transferred to this post three months ago.  After he was taken away, nothing was heard about him.  It is still unknown why he fired the shots.  But the police seemed very angry at the information being spread around the Internet and they said that those were irresponsible false information.

Presently, the special case squad is trying to determine the reason for the shootings.  A Dalian Railroad Public Security Bureau officer confirmed the shooting incident.  He said: "At this time, we only know that a police officer fired five shots which killed three persons.  The exact cause is still being investigated.  There are many causes.  Did they attack the police officer?  Did they take any action?  The case is still undecided."

The victims' families are worried that even though many people heard the gunshots and witnessed the scene afterwards, the office door had been closely locked at the time and all three principals who entered the office are now deceased.  So will the investigation be fair?  The police has not yet announced any results.

(Observechina)  The Lives That Were Taken Away Twice.  By Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波).

[in translation]

The gunshots at the May 1st workers' march in Macau resulted in the injury of only one person, but the fact that the police used gunfire to maintain order at a march shook the media around the world.  Their reports and commentaries criticized the Macau police and the Edmund Ho administration.

Yet, in mainland China which is the motherland of Macau, the sounds of the gunshots in Macau were thoroughly eliminated in the various media including the Internet.  If you use Baidu to search for "May 1st Macau gunshots," you will find only one item.  This total blackout must be rated as the most efficient press control in the world.

On May 3, I read an Internet report titled <Dalian Police Committed Murder; Media Forbidden To Report>.  The author is Guo Qiao and this report originally appeared in Asia Weekly (volume 21, issue 18).  The report said: "A police officer with the Dalian Railroad Public Security Bureau fired five shots to kill the family of three who came to discuss compensation."  "On April 26, five gunshots rang out in the Xiongyuecheng duty office of the Dalian Railroad Public Security Bureau.  Taxi driver Wang Hongwu and his wife, and his 62-year-old father died."

The three deceased persons were: father Wang Changyuan, 62 years old, shot twice and dead at the scene; son Wang Hongwu, 35 years old, shot twice and dead at the scene; daughter-in-law Wang Jing, 29 years old, shot once and died 40 minutes after arriving at the hospital.

The name of the police officer who fired the shots and killed the people is Su Kai.

A policeman was involved in this case too, and he fired shots.  But with three persons dead, this case should be shocking too!

Even more infuriating is the fact that the authorities have banned news coverage.  Guo Qiao wrote: "On the day of the incident, Beifang Net published a news report.  But after night later, it was deleted.  The local media received ban orders not to report on the incident.  On April 28, Yunnan's Chuncheng Evening News and Fujian's Haixia Metropolis Daily made brief reports.  But all the nationally influential newspapers quickly received orders not to report."

Two days before the incident (that is, on April 24), Wen Jiabao just signed <The People's Republic of China regulations on disclosing government information>.  The mainland media praised these regulations.  The first reason for the praise was that the Chinese government has put "respect for the right of the people to know" into law.  The second reason was that the legal principle behind this is consistent with the international practice of having "government information being open in principle while being closed is the exception."

The first article of the first section of the regulations is: "These regulations have been enacted in order to guarantee that citizens, their legal representatives and other organizations can obtain government information, to increase the transparency of government performance, to promote administrative in accordance with the law and to fulfill the function of government information in providing service to people's production, living, economic and social conditions."  Clearly, the Dalian Railroad Public Security Bureau is part of the government and that fact that a police officer in the department had shot three persons dead in a police station ought to be announced to the public.

The ninth article of the second section refers to <The Scope of Disclosure>: "Government information should be voluntarily disclosed by the administrative departments under the following conditions."  Among the four conditions are: "(1) the vital interests of citizens, their legal representatives or other organizations are involved; (2) the public is required to be aware and/or participate."  Obviously, the taking away of the lives of three citizens involve their most important "interests" and this is obviously something that "public ought to be aware of."  Therefore, this information should have been made known immediately.

Yet, it was been one full week from April 26 to May 3.  The relevant government departments are pretending to be deaf and dumb, and the media across the whole nation have been quiet.  Up till now, the public does not know the truth of the case.  They don't know why the police officer opened fire.  They don't know how the police investigation is progressing.  They don't know if the police investigation has reached any conclusions.  They don't know what will happen to the murderer.

This important police murder case was covered up very tightly.  The local government officials can control at most the media within their jurisdiction and they do not have the power to shut everything down.  Therefore, the ban order must have come from the Central Publicity Department that has control over the whole nation.

The double murder was a double crime.  The first crime was for the police to open fire and killed people.  This is a crime in which a law enforcement officer violated the law.  The second crime was for the government to ban coverage of the murders committed by an individual police officer.

A dictatorial system is the dark prison which manufactures these types of double crimes.  From the June 4 massacre to the Shanwei massacre, how many victims were murdered twice and never got to see any sunshine of truth and justice?  Instead, they get to rot silently.

In mainland China, many lives have been murdered twice: the first time, the violent dictatorship took away their physical lives; the second time, the system of lies took away the right of their families to speak, the right of the public to know and the right of the media to report.

The official violence injured lives cruelly; the system of lies covered up the truth; the combination of violence and lies caused the system to be cold and cruel with no pity, love or respect for life.  How much longer will this cruel system of butchery toy with the lives of Chinese people!  How much longer will the Chinese people have to endure this inhumane system!

For the record, it is not completely true that there is no media coverage.  For example, a Baidu News search was made on "Dalian"+"Police" (大连 警察) and this copy of the Dongbei Net news report was found at Shuimou Net with these photographs.  The news report (dated April 27, 2007) is essentially a summary of the Asian Weekly report, but with additional details about the preceding incident:

According to taxi drivers at the train station and other eyewitnesses, at around 9am on April 26, 32-year-old Wang Hongwu had a clash with oplice officer Su Kai on account of the fact that Wang had his foot on the iron chain that was used to separate the station from the outside.  Wang was chased by Su for over one hundred meters, whereupon Wang fell on the ground and started to have convulsions.  He was subsequently taken by ambulance to the hospital.  The taxi drivers sent the news to Wang Hongwu's 62-year-old father Wang Changyuan who runs an audio-visual store in front of the train station as well as the 29-year-old wife Wang Jing who sells clothing.  When the two returned to the train station from the hospital, they had a quarrel with Su Kai.  Subsequently, Wang Changyuan turned ashen and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.