Man freed after 14 years in mental hospital
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Fourteen years after a Hubei Province man was admitted to a mental hospital against his will, he was released Tuesday after a former ward mate launched an online campaign on his behalf in which he accused the local police of trying to silence the man for trying to expose a corrupt official.
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Guo Yuanrong (L) freed after 14 years in mental hospital |
Police committed Guo, 50, a former worker with the local construction bureau in Zhuxi county, Hubei Province, to Maojian Hospital on April 29, 1998.
He was allegedly targeted because he repeatedly accused an official in the same bureau of financial wrongdoing, starting in 1994, Beijing News reported Wednesday.
After Guo's family tried in vain to released him, Peng Baoquan, Guo's ward mate at the hospital, got on the case.
Peng learned of Guo's nightmare while he too was confined to the hospital in 2010 for five days. Saturday, he posted a story on Tianya, a popular online forum, and he described Guo's experience in detail and attached documents that apparently showed police coerced him to demonstrate he suffered from split personality or schizophrenia.
In order to attract more support, Peng, 47, made the story more sensational by pretending he was Guo's 24-year-old daughter named "Guo Hanyun" and wrote that "she" would "marry or be a slave to any man" who could save Guo.
Soon after the post received media coverage, the hospital came forward Monday to announce that Guo "can be released home after years of recuperation." He was released the next day.
"I had too much tranquilizers in the hospital during those 14 years, and my body is not well," Guo said Wednesday.
Guo said that he has no plans to pursue compensation.
Peng, who was admitted into the facility after taking photos of petitioners, told the Global Times Wednesday that he started his online drive in June 2010 by making posts about Guo's experience, but failed to draw proper attention.
"If normal measures worked, I would have never tried to attract hits by making up a nonexistent woman who wanted to be a slave to any man," Peng said.
Peng said that forcing Guo to live in a mental hospital was problematic since the facility failed to get approval from Guo's family. They also didn't conduct medical tests to see if he was actually mentally ill.
The police were supposed to provide evidence before throwing him into a mental hospital, Li Renbing, a lawyer who represented many people who were wrongly admitted to a mental hospital, told the Global Times Wednesday.
The county's publicity bureau told Yangcheng Evening News that Guo's case is still under investigation.
Some observers say Guo's ordeal exemplified the larger problem where psychiatric abuse needs to be stopped.
Li said an independent government agency should supervise mental hospital patients.
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