Society
Former police chief's death sentence upheld
By Wang Jingqiong and Ma Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-22 09:42
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 People set off firecrackers in front of the Chongqing Higher People's Court on Friday to celebrate the death sentence for Chongqing's former deputy police chief Wen Qiang. [China Daily] |
Chongqing - Wen Qiang, the former deputy chief of the police authority in southwestern Chongqing municipality, lost his appeal to escape the death penalty on Friday after being convicted for accepting bribes, protecting gangs, rape and property scamming.
Wen appealed to the Chongqing Higher People's Court against the sentence handed down by a lower court on April 14.
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The court also ordered all of Wen's personal property to be confiscated and deprived of his political rights for life.
Wen, wearing a yellow prison vest, appeared nervous during his time in court, but was almost motionless upon hearing the verdict.
The appeals of the other five co-defendants, including Wen's wife, Zhou Xiaoya, and three of Wen's subordinate police officials, were also rejected by the court.
Citizens waiting for the judgment outside the court were relieved at hearing the news that his death sentence was upheld. To celebrate, some of them set off fireworks and put up a banner that said, "Death sentence for Wen Qiang, long live the law!"
"As a police official and a legal worker, he broke the law to a huge extent," said a man outside the court who declined to reveal his name. "I strongly agree that he should be executed, so that other officials will be warned."
However, some people did not think the death penalty is necessary for Wen, despite his wrongdoings.
"I still think the death penalty should not be handed down except for extraordinary severe criminals," said an official surnamed Bai from the municipality. "And it's kind of sad to see so many people celebrate the death sentence with fireworks."
Bribery is the conviction for which the court sentenced Wen to death.
According to the verdict, Wen took bribes totaling more than 12 million yuan ($1.76 million), personally or through his wife, from 25 individuals and institutes from 1996 to 2009.
"Although the sum of bribes Wen took is not the largest ever, his behavior caused an extremely negative social impact, damaged the image of law enforcers, and severely harmed the public security team as a whole," said Zhang Bo, the chief judge of the second trial.
Wen was also convicted of providing shelter for five major organized crime gangs in Chongqing after accepting bribes worth 756,500 yuan.
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 A frame grab shows former senior justice official Wen Qiang (C) at the Chongqing Municipal Higher People's Court which upheld his death penalty, Friday May 21, 2010. [Xinhua] |
In August 2007, Wen raped a university student after getting her drunk, the verdict said.
Wen failed to account for the source of more than 10 million yuan in personal assets.
Wen has denied protecting gangs and raping the girl, and insisted that he deserved "leniency" during the second trial as he had cooperated during the investigation and also made many contributions to the city in the past years.
He also said that the first trial "inaccurately" determined some evidence that established some of his crimes and that led to a "more severe penalty", which "should be appealed". But Wen provided no fresh evidence at the second trial.
Wen, 55, served as vice director of the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau from 1992 to 2008, and later as director of the Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau until he was arrested in September 2009.
During his 16-year tenure in the police and justice bureaus, 640,000 criminal cases remained unsolved and 1,447 murders were not investigated, the China Youth Daily reported last week.