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Parents of teen who died at Internet camp want answers

By Zhu Yanping in Nanjing,Lan Tian in Beijing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-05 07:57

Parents of a teen who was beaten to death by counselors at a camp for Internet-addicted children have turned to the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region authorities for justice and further investigation of their son's death.

Family members of Deng Senshan were invited to a private meeting with local officials yesterday morning.

They had initially planned to hold a sit-in protest at the office building, according to media reports.

"Our talks with the Party committee officials are fruitless," Deng Fei, the father, told China Daily last night through text message, without giving the meeting's details.

"The boot camp has not given us an explanation, either."

Related readings:  Teenager dies in Internet rehab A teenager was allegedly beaten to death by counselors at an Internet addiction rehabilitation clinic in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Ministry pulls plug on shock therapy for Web addicts Health professionals and educators Wednesday welcomed a Ministry of Health (MOH) decision to ban the use of electroshock therapy in the treatment of Internet addiction.  Boys will be boys, but Net addicts younger than in the West  China issues first definition of Internet addiction                      Internet addiction not just 'bad habit'  Four kids in five view pornography online Most Hong Kong youngsters have checked out pornographic websites on the Internet and about a fifth of them did it before they turned 10, according to research conducted by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Meanwhile, Li Qiuguo, press office director of the regional Party committee, told China Daily yesterday that the government will hold a press conference within several days to release the investigation findings.

Deng graduated from Ziyuan county No 2 middle school in Guilin last month.

He was sent to Nanning-based Qihang Salvation Training Camp on Saturday by his parents who hoped the camp could help their son get rid of his Internet addiction.

Counselors in the camp put the 15-year-old boy in solitary confinement within hours of his arrival and beat him to death after they "scolded" him for running too slowly, Deng's father said.

The boy was pronounced dead around 3 am Sunday at Wuxu town health center in Nanning.

Police detained four suspects who beat the boy and the case is still under investigation, according to a police officer who wished to remain anonymous from Jiangnan branch of Nanning public security bureau.

The victim's father was notified by the police of his son's death on Monday morning and he rushed to the town.

He called the camp but officials there denied the boy had died.

After arriving at the local funeral parlor to identify his son's body, he saw blood all over the boy's face and wounds and bruises on his wrists from handcuffs, it was reported.

"Our school just rents part of school offices and land to the boot camp, and we know nothing about the training details," said Li Yongshun, admission director of Guangxi electronics school where the camp is located.

"The boy's body has been kept in refrigeration for more than two days but I haven't heard any forensic autopsy results so far," a worker with Nanning municipal funeral parlor told China Daily yesterday.

Local police have taken the boy's medical record for investigation, said an anonymous surgeon with Wuxu town health center where the boy received emergency treatment before death.