By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – An ex-judge, Wu Xiaoqing, who had been charged with taking bribes from gangsters, was arrested and committed suicide in his cell in central China.

Photo courtesy of China Daily

Wu was found dead by his cellmates who alerted guards that he appeared dead. Officials said the former judge left a suicide note, but neither the detention house nor the police would disclose the contents of the letter. Wu, age 57, hung himself using the drawstring from his underwear five months following his arrest for corruption.

Wu, who was the ex-director of the enforcement bureau of the local municipal court, was arrested in June on suspicion of taking in more than half a million dollars in bribes from 1998 to 2008, according to a spokesman surnamed Li. Li, speaking for the Chongqing city government office, would give only his surname.

Wu’s arrest was part of a continuing crackdown on anti-corruption in sprawling Chongqing. The initiative has nabbed approximately 1,500 suspects — gangsters, prominent businessmen and 14 high-ranking government and police officials, according to China Daily newspaper. The ex-director of the enforcement bureau of the municipal higher people’s court and president of a local court college was seized in June as part of an anti-corruption initiative.

China in recent years has adopted a dual approach that combined both prevention and punishment to address the country’s wide spread corruption. As part of the anti-corruption initiative, officials from the National Peoples Congress have called for tougher penalties for officials with big assets from unidentified sources. Officials who cannot give the source of their assets could be jailed for up to 10 years, instead of the current five years. According to Li Shishi, director of the NPC Standing Committee’s Legal Affairs Commission “We consider it necessary to impose severe punishment on officials abusing their power for personal gains.” However, the range of punishment for charges of corruption or bribery are not uniformly applied.  A typical penalty range that is often referred to notes that the sentence for accepting bribes for amounts between 5,000 and 50,000 yuan is often one to 10 years in prison, five years to life for 50,000 to 100,000 yuan, and for bribes of more than 100,000 yuan the penalty can be 10 years in jail to the death sentence.  

Six gang members in the city have been sentenced to death for crimes including murder and blackmail. China has a mixed record of cracking down on corruption, but when the country does, the punishment is often severe. For instance, two years ago, the director of China’s food and drug agency was executed for approving deadly fake medicine in exchange for cash.

The most senior official to be subjected to China’s harsh bribery punishment for his recent corruption charges was Shanghai’s former Communist Party chief, Chen Liangy. Chen was sentenced last year to 18 years in prison for his role in a pension fund scandal. In addition to investigations of other public officials, Hu Yanyu, a partner at Zhibo Law Firm from 2001 to 2008 and Wu’s alleged mistress, are also being investigated along with at least 10 other lawyers, said Zhou Litai, a Chongqing-based lawyer.

For more information, please see:

CBS World News – Ex-judge Facing Corruption Charges Commits Suicide In Central China – November 30, 2009 

China Daily – Accused ex-judge found hanged in cell – November 30, 2009 

China Service News – Senior judge handed over to judicial organs over bribery allegations – November 30, 2009 

Yahoo! World News – Ex-judge facing China bribery charges kills self – November 30, 2009

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – An ex-judge, Wu Xiaoqing, who had been charged with taking bribes from gangsters, was arrested and committed suicide in his cell in central China.

Wu was found dead by his cellmates who alerted guards that he appeared dead. Officials said the former judge left a suicide note, but neither the detention house nor the police would disclose the contents of the letter. Wu, age 57, hung himself using the drawstring from his underwear five months following his arrest for corruption.

Wu, who was the ex-director of the enforcement bureau of the local municipal court, was arrested in June on suspicion of taking in more than half a million dollars in bribes from 1998 to 2008, according to a spokesman surnamed Li. Li, speaking for the Chongqing city government office, would give only his surname.

Wu’s arrest was part of a continuing crackdown on anti-corruption in sprawling Chongqing. The initiative has nabbed approximately 1,500 suspects — gangsters, prominent businessmen and 14 high-ranking government and police officials, according to China Daily newspaper. The ex-director of the enforcement bureau of the municipal higher people’s court and president of a local court college was seized in June as part of an anti-corruption initiative.

China in recent years has adopted a dual approach that combined both prevention and punishment to address the country’s wide spread corruption. As part of the anti-corruption initiative, officials from the National People’s Congress have called for tougher penalties for officials with big assets from unidentified sources. Officials who cannot give the source of their assets could be jailed for up to 10 years, instead of the current five years. According to Li Shishi, director of the NPC Standing Committee’s Legal Affairs Commission “We consider it necessary to impose severe punishment on officials abusing their power for personal gains.” However, the range of punishment for charges of corruption or bribery are not uniformly applied.  A typical penalty range that is often referred to notes that the sentence for accepting bribes for amounts between 5,000 and 50,000 yuan is often one to 10 years in prison, five years to life for 50,000 to 100,000 yuan, and for bribes of more than 100,000 yuan the penalty can be 10 years in jail to the death sentence.

Six gang members in the city have been sentenced to death for crimes including murder and blackmail. China has a mixed record of cracking down on corruption, but when the country does, the punishment is often severe. For instance, two years ago, the director of China’s food and drug agency was executed for approving deadly fake medicine in exchange for cash.

The most senior official to be subjected to China’s harsh bribery punishment for his recent corruption charges was Shanghai’s former Communist Party chief, Chen Liangy. Chen was sentenced last year to 18 years in prison for his role in a pension fund scandal. In addition to investigations of other public officials, Hu Yanyu, a partner at Zhibo Law Firm from 2001 to 2008 and Wu’s alleged mistress, are also being investigated along with at least 10 other lawyers, said Zhou Litai, a Chongqing-based lawyer.

For more information, please see:

CBS World News – Ex-judge Facing Corruption Charges Commits Suicide In Central China – November 30, 2009

China Daily – Accused ex-judge found hanged in cell – November 30, 2009

China Service News – Senior judge handed over to judicial organs over bribery allegations – November 30, 2009

Yahoo! World News – Ex-judge facing China bribery charges kills self – November 30, 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

AMPATUAN, Philippines– A lead suspect, Andal Ampatuan Jr., accused of a massacre, which killed at least 57 people in the Philippines, has been turned over to the authorities by his family on Thursday.

Ampatuan Jr.’s family is a powerful pro-government clan allied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.  Since the massacre, there has been mounting pressure from the public to crack down on lawless acts and warlords.

According to Asia Foundation, more than 80% of families in Maguindanao province, the scene of Monday’s massacre, have been made homeless due to clan violence.

About 250 prominent political families exist in the Philippines with family members who hold positions in various levels of the government.    The Ampatuan clan has been ruling the Philippines’ Maguindanao province for years. 

 Victims at the massacre site.  Courtesy of Reuters.

Andal Ampatuan Sr. is the provincial governor of the Maguindanao province and has been grooming his son, Andal Ampatuan Jr., to succeed him in next year’s upcoming elections. 

However, Ampatuan Jr. is accused of allegedly stopping a convoy with more than 100 armed police and militiamen, and killing journalists, family and supporters of the Ampatuan clan’s rival gubernatorial candidate, Esmael Mangudadatu.

The Mangudadatu clan was ambushed as they were traveling to go file the election papers nominating Mangudadatu as the candidate for next year’s provincial governor.

A witness to the massacre said the victims were taken to a remote mountainous area.  The witness said, “Datu Andal himself said…anyone from the Mangudadatu clan – women or children – should be killed.” 

Investigators unearthing more bodies at the massacre site.  Courtesy of Reuters.

The witness added that Ampatuan Jr. also ordered the gunmen to make sure that no evidence of the killings was left behind and that all of the women were raped before they were killed.

Authorities have found bodies of the victims in a mass grave at the massacre site.  Bodies were found in large pits buried with vehicles.

Investigators have said that it appears that the victims were shot at a close range before being dumped in shallow graves.  Some victims also had their hands tied behind their backs.

To prevent retaliatory violence from the victims’ clan, the government has declared a state of emergency throughout the Maguindanao province and has deployed tanks and troops.

Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that the Ampatuan clan’s family connections with President Arroyo and the administration would hinder an impartial investigation.
For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Philippines’ key suspect surrenders – 27 November 2009

AP – Prime suspect in Philippine massacre surrenders – 26 November 2009

NYT – Suspect in Philippine Election Killings Surrenders – 25 November 2009

By Michael E. Sanchez
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

KHAR, Pakistan-  Shahfur Khan, a key anti-Taliban tribal leader was assassinated Friday in a roadside bombing, the latest in a series of attacks against pro-government militias in the area of northwestern Pakistan.  

Mr. Khan was returning to his home to receive guests after prayers marking the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al- Adha when the explosion occurred, which killed him and wounded three others, according to local officials Jamil Khan and Abdul Malik.  Jamil Khan, a local administrator said “The tribal leader was killed on the spot and his colleagues were seriously wounded in the blast.”

After his predecessor was killed with at least 14 other people in a suicide bombing last year,   Khan emerged as a militia leader in the Mamund area of the Bajur tribal region.

Violence has increased in Bajur and other northwestern tribal areas along the Afghan border since the army launched an anti-Taliban offensive in South Waziristan in mid-October.  A military statement on Friday said that over Fifteen Taliban fighters were killed in operations over the previous day in South Waziristan.  Pakistani troops took control of three significant militant strongholds in the Bara area of Khyber tribal region, where another 15 insurgents were killed.

Authorities also found the bullet-riddled body of another tribal elder, Ameer Saiyed who was seized from his home late Thursday in an attack that also left his son dead.  Authorities found the father’s body Friday near his home in Wali Kor village, the official said.  

The government has bolstered their military campaigns by assisting tribal leaders and supporting local militias to battle the Taliban.

These militias, also known as lashkars, have drawn comparisons with government-backed groups in Iraq known as Awakening Councils.  These groups have been credited with beating back the insurgency there.  The lashkars however, are less organized and the tribesman use their own aging weapons.

Traditionally, tribal elders have had massive influence in northwestern Pakistan but have increasingly been targeted by al-Qaida and Taliban fighters as they joined forces with the government.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press- Key Anti- Taliban Figure Assassinated in Pakistan– 27 November 2009

Time of the Internet- Insurgents Kill Two- Anti Taliban Elders– 27 November 2009

BBC News- Anti-Taliban Elder Killed in Pakistan – 27 November 2009

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – The dairy farmer and milk salesman who sold more than three million pounds of contaminated baby formula in China were executed on Tuesday.

Six babies died from drinking milk contaminated with melamine, which is a chemical used in manufacturing plastic and fertilizers, and more than 300,000 children were made ill.

Families in line at a hospital in Hebei Province for ultrasonic scan to detect health problems related to drinking tainted milk.  Courtesy of AP.

Melamine is an industrial chemical with high levels of nitrogen, and can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

The Chinese officials are hoping that the severe punishment imposed on the milk producers will bring some consolation and assurance to the angry public and milk importers, in addition to brining closure to one of the country’s worst food scandals.

Much of the tainted milk ended up in baby formula sold by Sanlu Group, a major dairy company in Northeast China.  Since the scandal broke, the company has been taken over by a state-controlled company.

Zhang Yujun at his trial last December.  Courtesy of China Daily/Reuters.

Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping were the only men to be executed among those convicted of lacing milk formula with melamine.  Additionally, 19 others were also convicted received lesser sentences.

The milk contamination struck a core with the Chinese public because although China claimed swift response to eliminating problems in food safety, this tainted milk scandal was only one in a series of product recalls and other disclosures of inadequate public health safeguards.

Despite Beijing’s efforts to regulate small and illegally run operations, a UN report said that many of China’s small businesses pose the greatest food safety hazard.  These small enterprises are often accused of injecting chemicals and additives into the food chain.

Nevertheless, China has been cooperating with U.S. officials to tighten its food safety regulations.  U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairman, Inez Tenenbaum, said that “Chinese suppliers…are now on notice…that it is a mistake to depend on good intentions and a few final inspections to ensure compliance with safety requirements.”

However, the outrage over the tainted milk scandal has not yet subsided.  There are allegations that the Chinese government prevented the news from breaking until after the Beijing Olympics. 

The cover-up allegations have never been publicly investigated, and the authorities have harassed or detained parents who are pursuing lawsuits or demanding higher compensation.
For more information, please see:

AP – China executes 2 for role in tainted milk scandal – 25 November 2009

Guardian – China executes two for tainted milk scandal – 24 November 2009

NYT – 2 Executed in China for Selling Tainted Milk – 24 November 2009