Policeman in wronged-killer case kills himself
By Liu Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-05-27 05:28

A policeman in Central China's Hubei Province, involved in a case that jailed innocent She Xianglin for 11 years, committed suicide on Wednesday.

Pan Yujun, 42, killed himself during an investigation of the case by the Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, which started last Saturday.

He was found hanged in a graveyard in Huangpi District in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.

Pan was one of the interrogators in the case involving She, who was convicted in 1994 for killing his wife and sentenced to 15 years in jail. The man was set free last month when the wife reappeared. The wronged man claimed that he confessed under torture by police.

A relative of the dead police officer said Pan had called his wife, Zhang Yinlan, twice before apparently hanging himself. "He said he was 'leaving' and asked her to take good care of the kid," said Zhang Jinjiang, the wife's brother.

Pan was also reported to have said in a call to his wife, "There is no way out. I am not willing to live any more," The Beijing News reported yesterday.

The adoptive mother of Pan, who gave only Jiang as her surname, told China Daily yesterday that she suspected he "might have been driven into a tight corner when being investigated."

"Since the local police were found to have extorted a confession by torture years ago, Pan should not be the only one to blame as he was the last person on the name list of the 11-member interrogation group," she said.

Yesterday Pan's body was transported from Wuhan to Jingshan County, where he was a policeman at the county's public security bureau.

Family members are preparing for Pan's funeral.

The provincial discipline inspection commission and the local public security bureau declined to comment yesterday.

The other policemen who handled She's case 11 years ago were investigated separately, sources with the commission said. Provincial authorities did not release the results.

She, 39, said he remembered Pan.

"He is too tender to endure pressure," She said. "If Pan were I, he could have died many times in 11 years."

She is seeking 4.37 million yuan (US$528,000) in state compensation for his mental distress, restriction of his right to freedom and infringement on the right to life and health during the past 11 years.

(China Daily 05/27/2005 page1)

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