A judge went on trial in the Guangdong provincial higher court Tuesday over a couple's suicide after he ruled that the couple owed 10,000 yuan (US$1,208) to a man surnamed Li.

Mo Zhaojun, the judge of Sihui people's court in Zhaoqing, was accused of malpractice for acknowledging a receipt for a loan that the alleged debtors claimed to have written while being threatened with knife, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported Wednesday.

In September 2001, Zhang Kunshi and his wife told a court they were forced at knifepoint to write a receipt for Li and a man surnamed Feng.

Mo decided that the couple did not have the evidence to prove their allegation. In November of the same year, the couple drank pesticide and died outside the court.

Police then summoned Li and Feng, who admitted they had forced the couple to sign the receipt.

Li was later sentenced to seven years in jail and Feng 14 years for robbery.

Mo was arrested in 2002. The Zhaoqing Intermediate People's Court acquitted him in December 2003, saying the couple's death was beyond Mo's control and was not directly linked to his judgement.

Sihui and Zhaoqing prosecutors appealed to the provincial court.

Prosecutors said Tueaday Mo's ruling caused the couple's death, but counsel for the defense said they had given up their right to appeal and chosen the extreme action as a result of their lack of awareness of the law.

(Shenzhen Daily March 25, 2004)