Pan Yujun, the policeman involved in the investigation into the wrongful imprisonment of She Xianglin for killing his wife, committed suicide recently, while a special taskforce was looking into the irregularities leading to the tragic injustice suffered by She. The Chinese media have reacted to the suicide.

Information access

for the public

An article by Cai Fanghua in the Beijing Youth Daily calls for open access to information for the public regarding the investigation into the wrongful judgment against She.

More than one month after the redress of She's case, the relevant departments in Central China's Hubei Province have been investigating the cause of the injustice. However, it is puzzling that the whole process of the investigation has been closely guarded as a secret. So far, the special taskforce has not convened a single press conference, nor has it told the public anything about the ongoing investigation. It is due to such secrecy that after Pan's suicide, the public cannot help but question the justice of the whole process: Will Pan become the scapegoat?

She himself has said that the injustice 11 years ago was not solely the fault of the police who tortured him into confession, but also by the prosecutors and judges. Apart from the mistakes of those involved in the case, a judicial practice that stresses confession rather than objective evidence and a deeply rooted attitude that assumes a suspect guilty until proven innocent should also be held responsible. Therefore, the on-going investigation should not only hold the parties concerned responsible, but also locate loopholes in the judicial system and restore the public's confidence in the law.

The author calls on relevant departments to "officially explain" how the investigation is proceeding and to reveal the facts about Pan's death at an early date.

Abiding by laws

the only answer

An article in the Beijing News cautions that in correcting She's case, new mishandlings of the case could occur, and says the only way to avoid these is to abide by laws in the on-going investigation.

While the public are guessing about the reason for Pan's suicide, we need to ask: Why did Pan, a veteran law-enforcer who should have known that his crime was not a death penalty matter and the investigation would clear him of wrongdoing, commit suicide?

Due to a lack of certain regulations - such as those on lawyers' presence and video recording of the interrogation process - the overall protection of personal rights is yet to be guaranteed. In addition, even though laws prohibit inquisition by torture, such a practice still occurs.

No one knows about such gaps and violations of legislation better than a law-enforcer and these malpractices can easily destroy confidence in the legal system.

We have stressed how important it is for the public to acquire legal knowledge in the process of building a society ruled by law. An environment where the public can have confidence in laws is also crucial. If the government's power overshadows law, and violation of laws is a frequent occurrence among law-enforcers, the public's confidence in our legal system will be harmed.