Four police officers from Hainan Province have been found guilty of shooting a man and dereliction of duty. This follows an incident in which one of them shot a farmer and the others tried to cover it up by blaming the victim and mistreating him. 

One of the policemen was jailed for six years while the senior officers involved were given suspended sentences ranging from 18 months to three years.

This quite extraordinary case of a family's fight for justice has been winding its way through the provincial legal system for six years.

On July 24, 2000 the Haikou Intermediate People's Court was told that Xing Yagai, of the Li ethnic minority and a native of Xinningpo Village, Dongfang City, approached a police checkpoint that had been set up to scrutinize vehicle registrations.

As his motorbike wasn't properly registered, fearing it would be seized or he would be ordered to pay road fees, he stopped a dozen meters from the checkpoint, turned around and fled.

Officer Wen Ruiqiang ordered Xing to stop but the farmer sped away. Wen fired two shots that both hit Xing.

In their report Zhang Shenggui, chief of Datian Police Substation and Li Guohe, the head of Dongfang City Public Security Bureau, justified the shooting by describing Xing as a fugitive and suggested Wen should receive a commendation. They also used their influence with the local media to spread untrue stories about Xing.

While Xing was being treated for his wounds over a period of eight days he was put under police surveillance and handcuffed to his hospital bed. 

Xing's father-in-law, Fu Guanghua, who was the village head, complained about his son-in-law's mistreatment to Chen Wenji, secretary of the disciplinary inspection committee of Dongfang City Public Security Bureau. Chen turned down Fu's request for redress and compensation.

This only made Fu more determined and he took his complaint to successively higher authorities. He even reported the case to officials in Beijing.

Finally the People's Procuratorate of Dongfang City investigated the case seriously. They determined that the officers involved should be charged, Wen Ruiqiang with intentional injury and Li Guohe, Zhang Shenggui and Chen Wenji with dereliction of duty for ignoring and obstructing the case.

The Haikou Intermediate People's Court recently sentenced Wen to six years in prison and ordered him to pay 5,680 yuan (US$732.3) in compensation to Xing.

The other three officers were all convicted by the Qiongshan District Court of Haikou City and given suspended sentences ranging from 18 months to three years. 

Both Xing and his father-in-law say they're satisfied that justice has been served. But they complain the cash compensation isn't enough as Xing can no longer do manual labor.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2007)