A policeman in central China's Hubei Province, involved in the wrongful imprisonment of She Xianglin for 11 years, committed suicide on Wednesday.

Pan Yujun, 42, killed himself in the midst of ongoing investigations into the case by the Hubei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, 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. She was set free last month when his wife reappeared. She claimed that the police tortured a confession out of him.

The dead man's brother-in-law, Zhang Jinjiang, said that Pan had called his wife, Zhang Yinlan, twice before hanging himself. "He said he was 'leaving' and asked her to take good care of the kid."

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 her surname as Jiang, 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 with the county's public security bureau.

Family members are preparing for the 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 being investigated separately, sources with the inspection commission said. Provincial authorities did not release the results.

She, 39, said he remembered Pan and was saddened by the news. He recalled that he got to know Pan during his interrogation. To She, Pan appeared to be one of the more senior policemen handling his case. The interrogation methods Pan used on him were "moderately severe", recalled She.

She went on to say that Pan had been a policeman for many years and should therefore have been able to face up to the investigations. "I thought he would be able to make it through," said She.

She has filed a claim with the Jingmen Municipal Intermediate People's Court for compensation from the state.

He is seeking 4.37 million yuan (US$528,000) for mental distress, restriction of freedom and, and an infringement of his rights to life and health during the 11 years that he was wrongfully imprisoned.

(China Daily May 27, 2005)