Two police officers are standing trial for the "hide and seek" death that put China's detention system under the spotlight.

Defendants Su Shaolu (left) and Li Dongming stand trial yesterday in Songming county, Yunnan province.

Former second-class police supervisor Li Dongming, 48, faced a charge of dereliction of duty and former first-class police supervisor Su Shaolu, 36, was prosecuted for bullying inmates at a court in Songming county of Yunnan province yesterday.

Prosecutors alleged the officers' lax management of the prison cells led to violent inmates beating another prisoner to death during a game of "hide and seek" in a detention house of Jinning county, Yunnan province in February.

Li, dressed in a plain suit, was accused by the prosecutor of "neither exercising policing regulations and management responsibilities, nor curbing the growth of violent inmates' clout in cell number 9," which was under his supervision and where the crime happened.

Su, wearing a detention house uniform of a yellow vest and handcuffs, was also accused of violating supervision regulations and abusing scores of rule-breaking inmates by protracted kneeling, verbal insults and corporal punishments from 2008 to early 2009.

Li De, father of dead inmate Li Qiaoming, told the New Life Post: "All I want is justice, and I hope the murderers and police officers whose negligence led to my son's death receive their due legal punishments."

Cellmates Zhang Houhua, Zhang Tao and others bullied and beat 24-year-old Li from Yuxi several times when he was detained from Jan 29 to Feb 8 in the cell, according to reports.

It's alleged they blinded-folded Li to "play hide-and-seek" on Feb 8 and then began beating him. Li bumped his head into a wall after a heavy punch and fell unconscious. He died in hospital on Feb 12.

A verdict was not reached yesterday. The inmates will be tried in a separate cases.

After Li's death, a fund of 30 million yuan ($4 million) was reportedly designated for upgrading surveillance systems in prisons and detention centers to weed out possible abuse of inmates.

"We have made progress in enhancing supervision in the detention center. This includes installing real-time surveillance cameras and training to educate our policemen," said director Wu, a senior officer from Jinning county's public security bureau.

Following Li's death, authorities launched a five-month campaign to ensure proper management of detention centers with at least 15 "unnatural" deaths reported so far this year.

For the past three months, more than 100 "prison bullies" have been punished to ensure the security of the prisoners in detention centers, China National Radio reported.

(China Daily August 7, 2009)