“The death of Sun Renze under police custody”

By Wang Heyan

Ren Tingting collapsed onto the desk in tears several times during the trial. Before the trial was adjourned, she suddenly leaped from her seat on the prosecution’s bench, burst in front of the eight suspects, and yelled at them, “You murderers, I’ll never forgive you.” Amid the commotion on the defendants’ bench, the presiding judge called for order.

Ren Tingting is a resident of Yining City in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region’s Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, now in her fifties. Her husband was a senior police officer who died on the job. Their only son, Sun Renze, was put under criminal detention on 27 March 2018 at the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre in Ili Prefecture, on suspicion of provoking trouble.

In the early morning hours of 27 September 2018, Sun Renze fell into a coma after more than seven hours of interrogation at the Huocheng County Detention Centre in Ili Prefecture. After being put under intensive care at a number of hospitals, he passed away on 9 November, having never regained consciousness. He was not yet 31 years old at the time of his death.

According to the police, Sun Renze asked for a drink of water during the interrogation, and fell unconscious after choking while drinking–thus, the interrogators bore no responsibility for his death. Having seen her son’s tattered body lying comatose on the hospital bed, Ren Tingting could not accept such a conclusion. In the five years after her son’s death, she continued to press authorities for an inquiry into her son’s mysterious death, while facing immense pressure from all sides. The truth finally came out: on 6 November 2023, the Kuytun City Court in Ili Prefecture silently convicted the eight defendants of intentional assault, in this case of police using torture to extract testimony, which resulted in the victim’s death. The eight defendants received initial sentences of 3 to 13 years.

On 18 September 2018, investigators extracted Sun Renze from the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre, and took him to the basement offices of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s traffic police, where they used tactics such as forcing him to carry chairs in front or on his back, tying him up, and pouring water over him, during their nearly week-long interrogation. Photo credit: Wang Heyan, Caixin Media.

The eight defendants—Bai Zhenhua, He Defu, Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, Cui Liang, and Zhu Shengde—were all police officers serving at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau and other various city and county-level security bureaus under its jurisdiction. Bai Zhenhua, born in June 1976, was originally squad leader at the criminal investigation division at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau. He Defu, born in November 1962, was originally deputy head of the legal affairs division at the Kuytun City Public Security Bureau, and a senior fourth class police sergeant. Wu Xuemin, born in December 1986, was originally deputy head of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, and the head of its Qingshuihe Substation. Liu Xianyong, born in May 1991, was originally a third class police sergeant in charge of intelligence gathering at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s criminal investigation division. Shi Donghua, born in August 1983, was originally an instructor at the Xinyuan County Public Security Bureau’s criminal investigation division. Jin Bowen, born in January 1985, and Cui Liang, born in July 1985, were originally deputy heads of the Huocheng Public Security Bureau’s economic crimes investigation division. Zhu Shengde, born in October 1976, was originally head of the Gongliu County Public Security Bureau’s food, drugs, and environmental investigation division.

According to the Kuytun City Court, during investigation into an organised crime and corruption case five years ago, the eight defendants submitted the victim Sun Renze to torture, including tying him up, suspending him from the ceiling, beatings, and pouring water over him, which eventually led to the death of the victim. In the court’s opinion, as public security officials with years of experience in the line of duty, the eight defendants would have clearly known the harmful effects of their torture. Regardless, they resorted to such means to extract the testimony, which resulted in the death of the victim. With ample evidence to prove their guilt, their actions were a clear violation of the Criminal Code, in particular the crime of intentional assault therein defined.

After the initial judgement was handed out, Bai Zhenhua, He Defu, Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, and Zhu Shengde lodged an appeal, which is currently under deliberation at the Ili Prefecture Intermediate Court.

“The police said he choked to death on water”

As Ren Tingting recalls, sometime after 8 p.m. on 27 September 2018, she received a phone call from an unfamiliar number. The person on the other end introduced himself as Cui Liang, a police officer on the criminal investigation squad at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau. He then said that officials at the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau wanted to see her, and he would come soon to pick her up.

Ever since her husband died at work many years ago, Ren Tingting had been living by herself. Since it was already quite late that day, she refused the request. Around half an hour later, Cui Liang arrived at the community where Ren Tingting resided in a Mitsubishi without any official police markings. The two met at the gate of the community. Cui Liang said that public security officials wanted to see her. Ren Tingting insisted that she would go on her own the next day. “After Cui Liang left, he continued to call me on the phone from a distance, and this lasted for quite some time,” she said.

After the court of first instance concluded its trial, Sun Renze’s mother Ren Tingting, along with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, burned incense paper on the sidewalk as an offering to her late son. Photo credit: Wang Heyan, Caixin Media.

Six months earlier, in March 2018, Ren Tingting’s son, Sun Renze, was arrested by the Yining City Public Security Bureau on suspicion of provoking trouble, and he was later detained at the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre. According to Ren Tingting, as the family’s only child, Sun Renze was doted upon by his parents from a young age. When he was in middle school, his father died from a heart attack while on the job. With one less parent to rein him in, Sun Renze became more and more unrestrained. Although he later went to police academy, he never joined the force, choosing instead to go into business and opening up a bar. As understood by Caixin Media, Sun’s contacts were mostly people with complex backgrounds, and Sun himself had been in and out of prison on several occasions.

Ren Tingting held her ground until roughly 10:30 p.m., but the police kept on insisting that she come immediately. Left with no other choice, Ren Tingting called her son’s lawyer to accompany her to Huocheng.

The car arrived in Huocheng County near midnight, and headed directly toward the outpatient building at Huocheng County First People’s Hospital. Cui Liang told Ren Tingting and the lawyer to head to the ICU on the building’s second floor, but Cui himself did not go in with them, while another person stood around at a distance. Ren Tingting later learned that that other person was Wu Xuemin, then a deputy squad leader at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s criminal investigation division.

“My feet almost collapsed when I reached the ICU door,” said Ren Tingting, “I saw my son lying under a blanket on the hospital bed, with tubes stuck all over his body. I called his name, but he didn’t respond. His right arm was left outside the blanket, and there was a very deep, purplish gash on both his wrist and shoulder blade. When I lifted the blanket, I saw that he was naked underneath. His left arm was in a splint, his calves were full of wounds and bruises, and his testes were all red and swollen.”

Ren Tingting later learned that the marks on Sun Renze’s shoulder blade and wrist were the result of him being tied and suspended from the ceiling for prolonged periods, and the bruises were the result of electrocution. “I asked them if his left arm was broken. They said, he choked on water and fell to the ground, and his shoulder got dislocated when they tried to pull him up,” she said.

The police pulled out a medical release notice for Ren Tingting to sign. She recalls the medical record documenting the investigators’ account of what happened: in the early hours of 27 September, the suspect requested a drink of water, choked, and fell to the ground while he was drinking; in addition, the patient in question was in low spirits, having not eaten for several days.

“His body is in tatters, why doesn’t the record mention any of his injuries?” demanded Ren Tingting.

The Huocheng County Public Security Bureau officials that Cui Liang mentioned never arrived. Wu Xuemin said that they had left the county. Ren Tingting refused to sign the notice: “Wu Xuemin became very anxious and jittery, pacing all about and making phone calls.”

Sometime around 2 or 3 a.m., Ren Tingting arrived back home in Yining. “My eldest sister was waiting for me. I was shaking all over, while I told her what had happened,” she said. Ren Tingting said that she and her family did not sleep at all that night.

After daybreak, Ren Tingting went back to the Huocheng County First People’s Hospital with her family and the lawyer. Auxiliary policemen stood at the ICU door to stop her from entering. Ren Tingting found one of the doctors, surnamed Ma, who had taken part in her son’s emergency resuscitation.

“As soon as she heard I was Sun Renze’s mother, she immediately ran away, saying that she didn’t know anything. I ran after her and caught up with her. I said, you are someone’s mother yourself, wouldn’t you want to know what happened if you saw your son like this? She told me to go to the hospital director,” Ren Tingting said.

Ren Tingting was unable to find the hospital’s director. According to other doctors involved in the emergency resuscitation, Sun Renze choked while drinking water and his shoulder became dislodged during their efforts to save his life.

After much back and forth, officials at the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau finally agreed to meet them that afternoon. When Ren Tingting and the lawyer arrived at the bureau, “we were not allowed to bring anything in with us, and they searched us from head to toe.” Ren Tingting met with Bai Zhenhua, who at the time was deputy squad leader at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s criminal investigation division, and a clerk at the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, surnamed Xu; the lawyer met with the deputy director in charge of criminal investigations at the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, surnamed Wang.

“Bai Zhenhua immediately began recalling old connections, saying that my husband was his superior when he was working at the Yining County Public Security Bureau,” Ren Tingting said. His account of what happened to Sun Renze was exactly the same as the police officers at the hospital. He also added that the injuries on his wrists and legs were caused by handcuffs and leg shackles.

“I immediately knew he was lying. My son was merely a suspect, not a criminal on death row, so why would they cuff and shackle him in the detention centre?” Ren Tingting demanded to see video surveillance footage. Bai Zhenhua initially said that there was footage, but she was not allowed to see it. He later said that they could deal with the matter at a later date. When asked by the lawyer, deputy director Wang said that he would need approval from higher-ups to show them the footage.

In the early hours of 27 September 2018, Sun Renze fell unconscious after nearly eight continuous hours of interrogation at the Huocheng County Detention Centre, and was rushed to the ICU at the Huocheng County Hospital for emergency treatment. Photo credit: Wang Heyan, Caixin Media.

“We did everything we could”

On 29 September, the third day after Sun Renze collapsed, the hospital director told Ren Tingting that they had brought in the head of the ICU at the Xinhua Hospital In Urumqi. According to their diagnosis, the patient was already brain-dead, and would remain in a vegetative state even if his life was saved. Ren Tingting remembers asking the director about the bruises everywhere on Sun Renze’s body. Were they caused by defibrillators during resuscitation? The director said it would not have been of any use, since the patient was already not breathing when he arrived at the emergency room. Ren Tingting then asked to see the hospital’s medical records. The director said that it was not up to the hospital, since the police would need to approve first. While she was in the hospital director’s office, Wu Xuemin always remained at the door: “Later on, whenever my family or I went to the hospital to visit my son or ask about his situation, there would always be a police officer following us.”

Also on this day, Ren Tingting submitted lawsuit paperwork to the Ili Prefecture’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Public Security Bureau’s public inspection division, and the Procuratorate.

On 3 October, Sun Renze took a turn for the worse and received a tracheotomy. When Ren Tingting arrived at the hospital with her family, six police or auxiliary police officers stood at the door of the ICU and barred her from entering. “I said that we have visitation rights as family members of the patient; the doctors said that they needed authorisation from public security officials. When an auxiliary police officer shoved my eldest sister, she instinctively reached out with her hands to try and grab onto something, and the officer said that she, a woman nearly 70 years old, was hitting him,” said Ren Tingting. “The officer yelled into his radio, and a dozen or so policemen immediately rushed up and surrounded us.” They were taken to a local police substation, where the policemen there took pity on them when Ren Tingting told them what happened, and they declined to take action against the women.

Ren Tingting then headed to the Prefecture Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Public Security Bureau, and the Procuratorate, to request visitation rights. After some negotiation, she and her family were allowed one visit of one hour each week.

On 12 October, half a month after Sun Renze was hospitalised, he was transferred to Ili Prefecture’s Friendship hospital, located in Yining City, and one of the two top-level hospitals in the prefecture. By this point, Sun Renze was already in severely critical condition, suffering from kidney failure and lung infection.

According to Ren Tingting, the attending physician said that the patient was now in a critical state, and they should prepare for the worst. After Sun Renze was transferred to the Friendship Hospital, Ren Tingting would go to visit him every day. Even though she could only see her son through the glass window of the ICU, she nevertheless hoped for a miracle to happen.

On 6 November, when Ren Tingting arrived at the Friendship Hospital, the ICU director, surnamed Guo, and a Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region expert told her that the patient was holding on through will power alone and could die at any moment: “As for the rest, you do what you need to do, it’s your right to do so.”

Ren Tingting said, “I understood what she meant: I should sue and report the matter.”

Three days later, on 9 November 2018, Sun Renze died after 43 days in intensive care.

“All I want is the truth”

After Sun Renze was hospitalised, law enforcement authorities in Ili Prefecture began to take action as well. After he was transferred to the Friendship Hospital, the Ili Prefecture and Huocheng County Public Security Bureaus offered civil compensation to Ren Tingting, “on the condition that the family agrees that the police are not liable.”

According to Ren Tingting, the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau summoned her to the bureau’s public complaints office on 22 October 2018. “Wu Xuemin, Cui Liang, and Inspector Mao from the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau were there. Inspector Mao said their investigation found that the police were not liable for the death of Sun Renze, but they were willing to offer us some judicial subsidies. I refused.” Later on, Bai Zhenhua paid a visit to the lawyer’s office, along with the clerk surnamed of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau and Inspector Mao, saying that they could help her apply for a judicial subsidy of 800,000 CNY, but Ren Tingting insisted on state compensation.

Ren Tingting further recalls, sometime in December 2018 or January 2019, both Bai Zhenhua and the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s director Lu Jianjun paid her a visit at home; Lu Jianjun had previously worked under Ren Tingting’s late husband at the Yining County Public Security Bureau. “Lu Jianjun said under normal circumstances, not much money would be available as subsidies in a city like Yining, but as a gesture of support to our family, the Prefecture Public Security Bureau has pulled some strings to obtain a subsidy of 900,000 CNY, on par with first-tier cities in the country.” Yet Ren Tingting still refused, saying, “If my son died from illness or in a car accident, my pain and suffering will diminish as time goes on. But whenever I remember that my son died under such unclear circumstances, his body all tattered and bruised, time has only added to my pain. All I want is the truth: how did my son die?”

On the night of Sun Renze’s death, the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau commissioned Ili Prefecture’s Zhongye Forensic Examination Centre to conduct an autopsy, which found that the patient died of multiple organ failure; however, the report did not specify which of his organs failed. When Ren Tingting asked the coroner why they neglected his external injuries, “he said that he was already under severe pressure”.

Ren Tingting simply could not accept such a conclusion. She commissioned a law firm to appeal to the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate for another autopsy, but the Procuratorate never gave a reply. In the following four months, Ren Tingting would head to the authorities in Ili Prefecture every week, almost as if this was her job, submitting evidence and materials to the prefecture’s Political and Legal Affairs Commission, as well as the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security.

In the spring of 2019, the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate finally agreed to a second autopsy, but did not allocate the required funds. Seeking to find the truth behind her son’s death, Ren Tingting managed to borrow the 136,000 CNY required for the autopsy, with the expectation that this would later be reimbursed. The Hubei Chongxing Forensic Examination Centre commissioned Liu Liang, professor of forensic medicine and director of the forensic medicine department at the Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, to conduct the autopsy; on 8 March 2019, Liu Liang and his team arrived by plane in Yining. The Ili Prefecture Procuratorate received the autopsy report from Hube Chongxing in June; in July, Ren Tingting was told that the Procuratorate had decided to investigate the case.

Escaping justice no longer

The contents of the Hubei Chongxing autopsy report remain a mystery: neither the Public Security Bureau nor the Procuratorate of Ili Prefecture has released the report, nor was it submitted as evidence to the court.

Soon after the Hubei Chongxing report was submitted to the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate, the Ili Prefecture Political and Legal Affairs Commission received a tipoff, accusing Ren Tingting and her family of privately receiving and bribing the examiners. The accusation was quickly passed on to the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate, which summoned Ren Tingting for investigation into the matter. Only then did she realise that she had long been placed under constant surveillance: “The police had information on all of the phone calls, bank transfers, and private contact that I had with either my family or the examiners.”

According to the General Rules for Forensic Identification and Examination, forensic examiners are not allowed to meet with the litigants or their legal representatives. Ren Tingting said that she and her lawyer were unfamiliar with these rules. She had asked her lawyer to meet Prof. Liu Liang and his team at the airport, and Ren Tingting transferred the autopsy fees through Prof. Liu Liang as well. Yet these now became the basis for the police to argue that the report was obtained through an illegal process and thus should be considered null and void.

“The Prefecture Procuratorate should have been responsible for meeting with the examiners at the airport, but they told us to take care of it ourselves. I asked the Procuratorate to transfer the examination fee, which I should eventually be reimbursed for, but they told me to wire it directly to Prof. Liu Liang’s bank account.” Ren Tingting adds that the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate thoroughly investigated every clue in the tipoff related to the alleged illegal payment, even sending someone to Wuhan specifically to look into the matter.

After investigating the examination fee, Ren Tingting said that the police refocused their efforts on Sun Renze’s cause of death: they now claimed that Sun Renze suffered from epilepsy, and he fell unconscious and ultimately died because of a seizure during the interrogation. This time around, the police brought forward as proof Ren Tingting’s testimony in 2006, when Sun Renze was sentenced to re-education through labour. In an attempt to secure medical release for her son, Ren Tingting submitted falsified material claiming that Sun Renze suffered from epilepsy. Ren Tingting admits that she lied back then, in a desperate effort to protect her son. However, the police then took Sun Renze to three hospitals in Ili Prefecture for examination, none of which diagnosed him with epilepsy. Sun Renze’s application for medical release was denied, and he was eventually released after serving his full three-year sentence.

Following this, the police then dug up an old case from 2015. According to Ren Tingting, in 2015 Sun Renze took on a debt collection job for the businessman Zhang Huaiyuan: he and his accomplices locked the debtor, Deng Xuefei, in a hotel room, during which Deng Xuefei fell to his death from the building. Chan Huaiyuand, Sun Renze, and the other accomplices were convicted of illegal detention, but since they proactively compensated the victim’s family and received their forgiveness, all defendants in this case received suspended sentences. Sun Renze received a sentence of three years, to be suspended for four years.

“A female official in the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau, surnamed Xiao, once paid me a visit at home. In a threat veiled as advice, she told me that since you can’t bring someone back from the dead, it would be better to just let them pay some money and be done with it. The criminal investigation division is pretty powerful, since they deal with major cases all the time, so how could I possibly fight them? If I insist on pursuing the matter, they might dig up that old case from 2015, and that will be very damaging to my family,” Ren Tingting said.

Ren Tingting added, rumours later began to circulate that she bribed the judge to secure a lighter sentence for her son. She ignored these rumours and continued to press her case—at this point, she thought that the police mentioned the Deng Xuefei case to harass and pressure her into accepting the hush-up money. Not until the trial began in July 2023 did she find out the truth: during the national drive against organised crime and corruption in 2018, police in Ili Prefecture arrested a suspected group of mobsters in March, of which Sun Renze was one. This was regarded as the most important organised crime and corruption investigation in Ili Prefecture–yet after the arrests of multiple suspects in conjunction with this case, the police never managed to obtain critical evidence in their interrogations. To secure a conviction, the police decided to concentrate on the Deng Xuefei case, and as Sun Renze was one of the main perpetrators, he became the focus of attention as the police sought a breakthrough. The police used torture while interrogating Sun Renze in order to secure the testimony that they wanted.

Amid all the back and forth, the investigation into Sun Renze’s death stalled until 2022. Since the police questioned the legitimacy and legality of Hubei Chongxin autopsy report due to Ren Tingting’s private contact with the examiners, the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate commissioned a third autopsy, to be conducted by the Forensic Examination Centre at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.

On 10 March 2022, the Sun Yat-sen University team submitted their report, noting that Sun Renze “suffered from mild atherosclerosis in the myocardial bridge and left coronary artery, resulting in acute cardiac dysfunction, compounded by severe pneumonia and multiple organ failure which resulted in his death. External injuries sustained prior to death may have triggered or accelerated processes leading to death, and are considered secondary causes of death.”

On 1 April 2022, the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate instructed the Kuytun City Procuratorate to continue the investigation into Sun Renze’s torture and death under interrogation by the eight suspects. On 3 April, six of the suspects—Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, Cui Lian, and Zhu Shengde—were put under surveillance under suspicion of eliciting testimony through torture, and were further put under criminal detention on 17 April. On 18 July, Bai Zhenhua and He Defu were put under criminal detention under the same charges. Only at this point did Ren Tingting realise, during the 43 days that Sun Renze spent in the ICU before his death, the police officers sent by the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau to “keep guard day and night” at the hospital—namely Liu Xianyong, Zhu Shengde, and Cui Liang—“were in fact the very people who tortured and murdered my son during interrogation.”

“They said they were keeping guard, but in fact they were monitoring everything that my family and I did, to prevent any one of their own or hospital staff who knew the truth from contacting us,” she said. During our interview, Ren Tingting could not restrain her anger at the police officers suspected of torturing her son to death: after her son died under interrogation, a full four years elapsed before the eight suspects were taken into custody, during which they continued to work at their respective public security bureaus, and even received promotions; furthermore, they had ample time to collude among themselves and obstruct the investigation. Meanwhile, Ren Tingting had to endure “round-the-clock wire tapping, surveillance, and movement restrictions.” Local police would often come to her house to check on her, and she needed to apply for approval in advance if she wanted to head outside Ili Prefecture.

“If we don’t take him down, we’ll be considered the ‘umbrellas’ protecting him”

On 7 March 2023, the Kuytun City Procuratorate indicted the eight defendants—Bai Zhenhua, He Defu, Liu Xianyong, Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, Cui Liang, and Zhu Shengde—on charges of intentional assault leading to death, with the Kuytun City Court responsible for hearing the case. The trial of these eight began on 4 July, for which the Kuytun City Court borrowed the largest courtroom at the Karamay Intermediate Court.

According to Caixin Media’s sources, the authorities paid significant attention to these legal proceedings: leaders from the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau and Procuratorate were present at the Karamay Intermediate Court, and watched the proceedings on a closed circuit video feed. Access to the gallery was limited, with only two family members allowed in the courtroom for the victim and each of the defendants. Only 18 people sat in the gallery of more than 100 seats, so that the courtroom felt vast and empty. The victim’s and defendants’ families were seated on the extreme opposite sides of the courtroom, with bailiffs seated at attention by their sides to prevent tempers from flaring into blows.

The prosecution alleged that during March 2018, the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau set up a task force to investigate the case of an organised crime gang led by Zhao Yang. Bai Zhenhua, at the time a deputy squad leader at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s criminal investigation division, was appointed the deputy leader of the task force, with Wu Xuemin, Cui Liang, Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, Liu Xianyong, and Zhu Shengde among its members. In addition, Wu Xuemin and Cui Liang were later appointed as heads of interrogation.

Zhao Yang was a noted property developer in Ili Prefecture, later establishing the Yining County Dongxin Microloan Co. Ltd., for which he served as its legal representative. He was arrested shortly after the national drive against organised crime and corruption began in 2018. As a suspected member of the crime group, Sun Renze was arrested on 27 March, on suspicion of provoking trouble.

In his courtroom testimony, Bai Zhenhua stated that Zhao Yang’s case was regarded as the most important organised crime and corruption investigation in Ili Prefecture, with inspectors in the prefecture’s Public Security Bureau demanding that the investigation must produce concrete results: “The higher-ups insisted that we reach a conviction by October, and inspectors from the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau came to keep tabs on our progress. The Prefecture Public Security Bureau and task force were under tremendous pressure, so we handed the investigation to the Huocheng City Public Security Bureau.”

Local lawyers note that the Huocheng City Public Security Bureau was notorious for its harsh tactics in the Ili Prefecture public security system. Whenever an investigation stalled, simply mentioning that one “should do as the Huocheng City Public Security Bureau does” was enough for those involved to take the hint.

On 18 March 2018, the various county-level and city-level public security bureaus in Ili Prefecture pooled their manpower to establish a special task force for the Zhao Yang case, with the deputy director in charge of criminal investigations at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau serving as head of the task force, and Bai Zhenhua serving as deputy head; Wu Xuemin and the others were similarly reassigned from their respective units to the task force. In May, the 55-year-old He Defu was assigned to the task force as an advisor by the criminal investigation division’s organised crime squad of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Public Security Bureau. He Defu’s official position was at the Kuytun City Public Security Bureau’s legal affairs division, but he was on long-term assignment at the criminal investigation division’s organised crime squad of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Public Security Bureau.

By September, more than six months after the task force was set up, the investigation still lacked a substantial breakthrough. The task force thus decided to focus their efforts on Sun Renze, one of the case’s key suspects. On 18 September, Sun Renze was extracted from the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre. Nine days later, he collapsed on the interrogation room floor at the Huocheng County Detention Centre and never regained consciousness.

Multiple defendants testified that the purpose of torture during interrogation was to secure convictions in the Zhao Yang case. By this point the case had stalled: since the investigators could not link the case to a murder or an “umbrella”—i.e. government officials bribed by mobsters to protect them from the reach of the law—they could not define this as a case of organised crime and corruption. After consultation between officials in the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau and task force leaders, they decided to turn their attention to the Deng Xuefei case: if they could prove that Zhao Yang was involved in Deng Xuefei’s death, they would now meet the murder criteria. As one of Zhao Yang’s subordinates who was also one of the key figures in the illegal detention of Deng Xuefei, Sun Renze was thus made a prime target for interrogation.

According to the prosecution, after Sun Renze was taken into custody, he continued to deny that Zhao Yang instructed him to kidnap Deng Xuefei. In order to secure evidence for the case, Bai Zhenhua and He Defu decided to extract Sun Renze from the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre for intensive interrogation. The task force was divided into two groups who would take turns interrogating Sun Renze. The first group was headed by Wu Xuemin, and included Liu Xianyong, Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, and Zhu Shengde. The second group was headed by Cui Liang, and included another five members.

The court found that on 23 September, Bai Zhenhua arranged for the task force to transfer Sun Renze from the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre, to the offices of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s traffic police. Between 23 and 25 September, Wu Xuemin, Cui Liang, and Jin Bowen interrogated Sun Renze in the office, using tactics such as forcing him to carry chairs in front or on his back, tying him up, and pouring water over him. During this period, Bai Zhenhua and He Defu went to the interrogation site on occasion.

After further manoeuvring by Bai Zhenhua, at noon on 25 September, Sun Renze was taken from the offices of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s traffic police, to the offices of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau. Between then and noon on 26 September, Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, Jin Bowen, and Cui Liang interrogated Sun Renze at said location, using tactics such as suspending him from the beam above the office’s rear door, forcing him to carry chairs on his back, smearing him with mustard, beating him with PVC pipes, and electrocuting him with electronics extracted from an old telephone.

The court found that Sun Renze was taken from his cell at the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre because of hindrances during interrogation: at the detention centre, a metal grate separated the interrogators and the suspect, “which was an inconvenience during interrogation.” After moving to the basement offices of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s traffic police, they had to move again, because traffic police officials complained that it would be hard to keep the interrogation a secret due to all the people coming and leaving the office. However, after transferring again to the rear building of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, “the director of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau said that they could hear Sun Renze’s cries in the front offices, which would reflect badly on them, so they should conduct their interrogation at the detention centre”.

In the morning of 26 September, Bai Zhenhua and He Defu held an all-hands meeting at the rear building of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, where they decided to move Sun Renze to the Huocheng County Detention Centre and continue interrogations there. According to Bai Zhenhua, he contacted the Huocheng County Detention Centre’s director, surnamed Sun, and deputy director, surnamed Chai, to find a room for them that did not have video surveillance.

According to Wu Xuemin’s courtroom testimony, he proposed to Bai Zhenhua that they take some rest: “We’d been interrogating for more than a week, so we could use some rest, but Bai Zhenhua said that we needed to press on to successfully extract oral testimony.” A number of other defendants also testified in court that during the meeting in the morning of 26 September, they requested a day’s rest since the interrogation was nearing its end, and also because the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching. This was sternly rejected by He Defu: “He Defu said we should increase the intensity and completely break Sun Renze’s willpower. If we don’t take him down, we’ll be considered the ‘umbrellas’ protecting him.”

One of the defendants added, He Defu said to put a towel on a thin stick before forcing Sun Renze to kneel on it, so that no injuries will show.

He Defu categorically denied all of this, saying that he was not at the meeting on the morning of 26 September, and he was never involved in the physical interrogation, since he was only assigned to the task force in June 2018 to take down written testimony. He claimed he knew nothing about the torture during interrogation as mentioned by the other defendants. However, aside from He Defu himself and another task force member who was in charge of guarding Sun Renze, all the other six defendants testified that He Defu said something along those lines. Wu Xuemin remarked, “When He Defu said that we’d be thought of as protecting organised gangs if we didn’t take him down, it came as a real shock to me.”

According to the prosecution, Sun Renze’s transfers from the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre to the offices of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s traffic police, then to the offices of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, and finally to the Huocheng County Detention Centre, were all decisions made by Bai Zhenhua. However, Bai Zhenhua testified that the then director and deputy director of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau often enquired about the interrogation. Since they were unable to achieve a breakthrough, leadership at the Prefecture Public Security Bureau told them to increase the pace of interrogation, while ensuring the safety of those involved, in order to achieve a successful conviction in the most keenly watched case of organised crime and corruption in the prefecture. Therefore, he and He Defu proposed extracting Sun Renze from the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre, and move him to the basement offices of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s traffic police for interrogation. Both of the Prefecture Public Security Bureau bosses approved the move and told them to be mindful of safety.

Extracting Sun Renze out of the detention centre “was a process that involved contacts and negotiations between multiple public security bureaus and detention centres in the counties under the jurisdiction of Ili Prefecture, which I did not have the authority to conduct as a mere deputy squad leader,” said Bai Zhenhua. In his words, all these movements were first negotiated by the director and deputy director of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau, before delegating the task for him to carry out. However, according to written testimony from the director and deputy director of the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau, the two knew nothing of Sun Renze being moved out of the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County Detention Centre.

The fatal seven hours

Sometime after 4 p.m. on 26 September, Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, Jin Bowen, Shi Donghua, and Zhu Shengde drove Sun Renze from the offices of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, to the Huocheng County Detention Centre. By this point, Sun Renze’s body was completely bruised and tattered, and would be rejected entry into the detention centre according to proper procedure. The task force placed Sun Renze in a transport vehicle, and took him inside through a back door without registering him.

Due to the torture, Sun Renze was now unable to walk normally, so Wu Xuemin found a wheelchair to haul Sun Renze into the interrogation room. As indicated on the video feed of the detention centre’s corridor, this happened sometime after 4 p.m. that day. In the next seven hours, the group of policemen involved in the interrogation—including Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, Jin Bowen, Shi Donghua, and Zhu Shengde—submitted Sun Renze to acts of torture including tying him up, beating him, suspending him from the ceiling, and pouring water over him. At 12:37 a.m. on 27 September, Sun Renze was hauled out of the interrogation room unconscious, and never regained consciousness before he died 43 days later.

The court found that the interrogation room in question was normally used by the national security division of the Huocheng County Public Security Bureau, but was usually left empty. The room actually had video surveillance equipment installed near the front door and rear window respectively. Director Sun of the Huocheng County Detention Centre instructed Deputy Director Chai to shut off the video feed. However, as a precaution to protect his own skin in case something happened, Chai later secretly turned the video feed from the rear window camera back on. Because of this, video footage of the seven-plus hour interrogation exists, which proved to be the key piece of evidence in this case.

According to the footage, the room was furnished with a desk and two or three chairs near the door. A metal-framed bunk bed was also in the room, with one end on the wall near the door. On the wall was a small window, near which was a video surveillance camera.

According to the testimony of multiple defendants, during the interrogation, they would force Sun Renze to carry interrogation chairs either in on his front or on his back for more than 40 minutes at a time. They also removed the bed boards from the bottom bunk, exposing the metal framework, and tied Sun Renze’s hands and feet to the two ends of the metal frame, so that his naked body (save for a pair of boxers) pressed onto the bare metal frame–then they would then place dumbbells onto his belly to increase the strain on his waist. They also suspended Sun Renze from the ceiling, put a towel on his face, and poured water over it.

According to the footage, between 4 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. that day, Sun Renze’s face was drenched in water—either with or without a towel—more than a dozen times in these seven hours, with two of these sessions lasting as long as 16 minutes and 15 minutes. In addition, he was suspended from the ceiling for more than 20 minutes each time.

According to sources with knowledge of the proceedings, when Sun Renze was tied to the end of the bed frame near the door, the video feed only recorded the back of his body as he was tortured. Additionally, much of the view was obstructed by the bed frame. However, the footage clearly shows the interrogators wearing rubber gloves, and holding plastic bottles, dumbbells, and towels. “When the footage shows the interrogators pouring water, we can’t see Sun Renze’s facial expression or reactions, but the bed frame begins to violently shake for a prolonged period, which is enough to show the pain he was in,” said one of these sources.

The defendants testified that during the interrogation, they would also slap Sun Renze in the face, beat his calves and heels with white PVC pipes, and use electronics from an old telephone to electrocute his body. When tying his wrists and ankles, they would put towels in between the ropes and his body, in order to minimise external injuries. Near the end of the interrogation, Sun Renze began letting out ear-piercing cries and begged for mercy.

Almost all the defendants noted that Liu Xianyong, the youngest member of the task force, and who was on his first interrogation, was the most proactive and “sadistic” of the eight defendants in terms of torture. According to their testimony, Liu Xianyong would use sticky tape to rip off hair from Sun Renze’s legs, or hang bottles full of water from his genitals, or wear rubber gloves to squeeze his genitals. In addition, when it came to ripping out pubic hair, or pouring water onto his face either with or without a towel, most of these acts were carried out by Liu Xianyong.

Liu Xianyong admitted to these acts during the trial: “I wanted to completely humiliate him and destroy his psychological defences.”

Sources say that after his arrest, Liu Xianyong kept on denying his guilt. When his interrogators mentioned his mother, however, he immediately broke down and cried: for him, the incident had been weighing on his heart for all these years, and it was a relief for it to finally come out.

Although Cui Liang was originally not in Wu Xuemin’s group, he nevertheless entered the interrogation room at 7:39 p.m. that evening, and assisted Liu Xianyong and others in tying Sun Renze to the bed frame. Around 8:41 p.m., He Defu entered the interrogation room as well. Seeing that Sun Renze was already tied onto the bed frame, he demanded that Wu Xuemin and the others to intensify their efforts. Later on, Wu Xuemin and Liu Xianyong restrained Sun Renze onto the interrogation chair or tied him on the bed frame, and they poured water over his face multiple times.

Jin Bowen’s last recollection of Sun Renze was as follows: “…we tied him to the bottom bunk and began to pour water over him, smear mustard into his eyes and nose, and poured water into his nose from a plastic bottle. Someone also held a towel over Sun Renze’s mouth and nose before pouring water over him, this was done three or four times, and he passed out in the process.”

Zhu Shengde’s last recollection was: “…we tied Sun Renze to the bed frame, put a towel on his face and poured water over him, then brought another bucket of water and poured water over his face again. He stopped reacting soon after, no more struggling or gasping for air.”

At 12:37 a.m. on 27 September 2018, after more than seven hours of interrogation, Sun Renze fell unconscious. The interrogators took him out of the chair, and found that he had no pulse on his wrists, nor did he react when they slapped his face. Liu Xianyong placed Sun Renze on the floor and began CPR, while Wu Xuemin went to find the detention centre’s doctor. Sun Renze was rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. According to hospital records, when the patient arrived at the emergency room at 1:30 a.m. on 27 September, he had no pulse, was not breathing, and his pupils were diluted. The police who accompanied him to the hospital said that the patient requested a drink of water, choked while drinking, and fell unconscious.

The hospital’s director was one of the medical staff who helped resuscitate Sun Renze. According to Ren Tingting, on 28 September he told her that Sun Renze was already brain-dead, and would remain in a vegetative state even if they managed to save his life. Hospital records stat that “the patient had ceased breathing for more than 40 minutes when emergency treatment began, and had received defibrillation; the patient is already brain-dead due to the delay….”

According to Wu Xuemin’s written testimony, before Sun Renze was rushed to the hospital, he was already unconscious, with no pulse, no heartbeat, and no breathing. However, during the trial, Wu Xuemin replied that he could not determine if Sun Renze was brain-dead, since he was not a medical professional.

In the eyes of the victim’s lawyer and family, Wu Xuemin changed his testimony and colluded with the other defendants to coordinate their accounts, in order to cover up the fact that Sun Renze actually died at the detention centre. Whether he died at the detention centre or in the hospital is crucial, since the two different situations bear a significant impact on criminal liability and sentencing.

Sun Renze’s body went through a total of three autopsies and one supplemental autopsy. The first two autopsies were disregarded by the prosecution, due to objections raised by the family and the police respectively. During the trial, the prosecution submitted to the court a third autopsy report—signed by Prof. Luo Bin, deputy director of the Forensic Examination Centre at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou—and a supplemental autopsy report.

Prof. Luo Bin has conducted over 6,000 autopsies in his 30-plus-year career in forensic medicine. According to the third autopsy report, dated 10 March 2022, Sun Renze “suffered from mild atherosclerosis in the myocardial bridge and left coronary artery, resulting in acute cardiac dysfunction, compounded by severe pneumonia and multiple organ failure which resulted in his death; external injuries sustained prior to death may have triggered or accelerated processes leading to death, and are considered secondary causes of death.”

After being pressured to do so, in March 2022, Deputy Director Chai of the Huocheng County Detention Centre voluntarily handed over the surveillance footage of the interrogation, in a bid to lessen his criminal liability. The Ili Prefecture Procuratorate sent the footage to Prof. Luo Bin and his team, asking them to assess liability. On 2 March 2023, Prof. Luo Bin and his team submitted a supplemental autopsy report, stating that Sun Renze had pre-existing atherosclerosis in the myocardial bridge and left coronary artery, which was compounded by his injuries and the cold and wet conditions. Furthermore, he suffered mechanical asphyxia and dysfunction of the central nervous system due to his face being covered with a towel and drenched in water, which finally led to his death due to multiple organ failure. Being smothered and drenched in water contributed 60% of the cause of his death, injuries and hypothermia contributed 25%, and pre-existing ailments 15%.

According to sources with knowledge of the proceedings, after the interrogation footage was played during the pretrial meeting, “all the attorneys fell silent with a heavy heart.”

“The thought never crossed my mind”

The court found that Bai Zhenhua and He Defu did not take part in the physical interrogation, and the two categorically denied any knowledge of torture during interrogation. However, according to the other six defendants, Bai Zhenhua and He Defu would call all-hands meetings every day or every few days during the interrogation process, to ask about methods used and progress obtained the previous day.

In defending himself, Bai Zhenhua stated that at the time, he was also deputy squad leader at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s criminal investigation division, in addition to deputy leader of the task force. Because he was in charge of other cases covered by his squad, he spent most of his time away from the task force and thus did not know anything about how his subordinates used torture to extract testimony. “I merely told them that you need to use a ‘good cop, bad cop’ strategy during interrogation. Once, Wu Xuemin said Sun Renze was afraid of water; I asked him how he knew, he said that they poured water on him, and I told them to stop,” he said. In his opinion, slapping and kicking suspects during interrogation was fair game, but he had no idea that they used other such barbarous methods.

According to Bai Zhenhua, both groups of interrogators attended the all-hands meeting on the morning of 26 September. They held meetings every morning to report on the previous day’s progress, and He Defu would hold the meetings when he was absent. He told his team to listen to He Defu when he was not there. The other defendants confirmed, Bai Zhenhua did state that He Defu was an expert sent by the authorities of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, and when Bai was absent, they should listen to He.

He Defu denied this was the case: according to him, he was the last person to join the task force, and there was never any official paperwork or oral instruction assigning him to the task force. His job was merely to record written testimony–other than that, he knew nothing about torture during the interrogation until he saw the video footage. Of all the defendants, He Defu was the only one who refused to both admit his guilt and compensate the victim’s family.

When asked by the prosecution or the judge what He Defu meant by “increase the intensity” of interrogation, multiple defendants replied that this meant to use torture and be more forceful in their methods.

In defending his client, He Defu’s attorney said that He was originally deputy head of the legal affairs division at the Kuytun City Public Security Bureau, and he was on long-term assignment at the criminal investigation division’s organised crime squad of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Public Security Bureau because of his stellar performance at work. He Defu was merely assigned to the task force to ensure the quality of the written testimony; because he often criticised the others for producing written testimony that was below his strict standards, they then colluded among themselves to seek revenge against him. His attorney pointed out, the 26 September footage showed that He Defu stayed at the interrogation site for only roughly four minutes. Afterwards, when the other defendants colluded among themselves to coordinate their testimonies, He Defu was the only one left out, “thus proving that He Defu was not one of them.”

He Defu was released on bail due to tuberculosis. During the trial, he always wore a face mask; when he spoke, he was often so voiceless that the judge requested him to speak up. “He’s pretending,” Sun Renze’s widow would often mutter angrily in the gallery.

Among the defendants, Zhu Shengde was the one who participated in torturing the least, according to the testimony of multiple defendants. During the trial, Zhu stated multiple times that he was only a passive participant. The video footage showed him only slapping Sun Renze once.

According to his testimony, Zhu Shengde said that he had taken his job seriously and cautiously ever since he joined the police force. After his arrest, he had spent his days in the detention centre, constantly asking himself what else he could have done. He had always been merely a passive participant in the interrogation, as in the years on the job, following orders had become second nature to him. When the attorneys asked him if he ever considered that extracting testimony through torture was illegal, Zhu said that the thought never crossed his mind.

The court also discovered, after Sun Renze was rushed to hospital in the early hours of 27 September, the interrogators knew that they were in trouble, and they hurriedly began destroying and falsifying evidence. While Wu Xuemin and a few others stayed at the hospital that day, Cui Liang was instructed to rush back to the interrogation room at the Huocheng County Detention Centre and clear the room of any objects used during the torture.

The written indictment also noted, in order to cover up the fact that Sun Renze was brought to the Huocheng County Detention Centre, Bai Zhenhua, He Defu, and Wu Xuemin recorded fake video footage, which they handed over to the Ili Prefecture Discipline Inspection Commission’s representatives at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s inspection division, hoping to throw the investigation off track.

According to Bai Zhenhua, when he reported what happened to Sun Renze to his superiors at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau, they suggested shooting a fake video to satisfy the perfunctory requirements of the inspection division. Following these orders, Bai then notified Deputy Director Chai of the Huocheng County Detention Centre that they needed to shoot the video footage there. Since Cui Liang was of similar height and build to Sun Renze, they then dressed Cui Liang in a black hood, and filmed themselves faking a normal entry into the detention centre. However, in their written statement, the leadership at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau implicated in Bai’s account denied any knowledge of this.

The fake video severely hindered the prosecution’s investigation. Progress stalled until March 2022, when the Sun Yat-sen University Forensic Examination Centre submitted their autopsy report, and Deputy Director Chai voluntarily handed over the surveillance footage. On 8 March, the Ili Prefecture Procuratorate designated an investigation team to the case, after which the defendants were taken into custody one by one.

According to the prosecution, the eight defendants neglected to follow the law as they carried out their duties as law enforcement officials, instead using torture to extract testimony, which ultimately resulted in the death of the suspect under their custody. Their actions were a clear violation of Article 247 and Article 234, Section 2 of the Criminal Code, and thus should be held criminally liable under the charge of intentional assault. Since the eight defendants in this case coordinated their actions, this met the definition of joint crime as described in the Criminal Code. In particular, Bai Zhenhua and He Defu were the leaders and organisers of the joint crime, while Wu Xuemin and Liu Xianyong took a leading role in the acts of torture. These four should be considered principal offenders. Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, Cui Lian, and Zhu Shengde played a secondary role in the crime, and should be considered accomplices.

Acting in the line of duty, or intentional assault?

During the nearly four years between 27 September 2018, when Sun Renze was hospitalised, and July 2022, when all eight suspects were placed under criminal detention, all of the eight suspects in this felony had previously received promotions due to their work on the Zhao Yang case. In particular, Bai Zhenhua received a second-class merit citation, and was promoted from deputy squad leader to full squad leader at the Ili Prefecture Public Security Bureau’s criminal investigation division.

“During this period, they had ample time and opportunity while on the job to destroy evidence and coordinate their testimonies on the one hand, and on the other hand use their contacts and authority to put Sun Renze’s family members under constant surveillance, and use taxpayers’ money to take care of their deeds,” said Ren Tingting. According to her, court records show that aside from He Defu, all the other defendants coordinated their testimonies twice, one of which was conducted via the DingTalk app, which would not leave any record afterward. Ren Tingting’ attorney also stated, from the beginning of the investigation to April 2022, most of the defendants colluded with each other to coordinate their first three written testimonies.

During the trial, one of the defendants claimed, “On the day of the incident, everyone at the hospital felt a heavy heart.”

Yet Ren Tingting recalls that when she arrived at the hospital, the defendants displayed a careless haughtiness in the face of the victim’s family. “Wu Xuemin even said at the hospital entrance, ‘you can sue for all I care,’” she said.

Two rounds of deliberations were conducted during the trial. Near the end of the trial, after the prosecution presented their closing statement and recommended sentences, the prosecutor said that the two-day trial was a stern lesson for all those involved, including the defendants, the law enforcement officials in the courtroom, and the audience in the gallery. Just yesterday, the defendants were honourable police officers serving the people, yet they now sit on the defendant’s bench accused of crimes. Even though they hold leadership positions after years of experience on the police force, they still resorted to extremely violent and inhumane means, even with the full knowledge that this was illegal. How could the rule of law be upheld like this? Their actions have given a black eye to the Party and the police force, tainting the reputation of the police in the eyes of the citizens, and causing irreversible pain for the victim’s family and for themselves. Several family members of the defendants wept as they listened on.

During the noon recess on the first day of the trial, when Zhu Shengde was about to leave the courtroom, his daughter called out “Daddy” from her seat. Zhu Shengde turned his head toward his wife and daughter in the gallery. A few other family members of the defendants also called out “keep strong” to their loved ones. During closing statements the next day, the prosecutor rebuked them: “Yesterday, a number of the defendants’ family members yelled words of encouragement in the courtroom, in complete disregard of the pain that the victim’s family has to endure. Where is their conscience?”

Proceedings had to be adjourned briefly because Ren Tingting suddenly felt ill. While she was resting, she saw Wu Xuemin heading to the restroom accompanied by a bailiff; in a sudden fit of rage, she yelled “Murderer!” and tried to lunge at him, but was held back by the doctor at her side.

Since Ren Tingting’s late husband had a long career in the police force and was himself a member of the criminal investigation division, by her own account she had some knowledge of the work involved in criminal investigations. “In my understanding, if the police beat a suspect, it means that they slap the suspect’s face. I never would have thought that they’d beat my son to death,” she said. She continued, “I’m a mother, I have a soft spot in my heart. But no-one from the Prefecture Public Security Bureau ever offered me a word of apology.”

During final statements, only Jin Bowen read from a prepared text. He wept as he read out the line, “After more than a decade as a career policeman, I’ve now shed the uniform I love.” He expressed his guilt and remorse, and that he was willing to compensate the victim’s family. Cui Liang and Zhu Shengde bowed in apology to Ren Tingting. He Defu refused to admit guilt. Bai Zhenhua, Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, and Zhu Shengde believed their actions only met the definition for forced confession and not intentional assault.

Bai Zhenhua disputed the description and charge laid out in the indictment. In his opinion, he cannot accept that the prosecution characterised the task force as an organised crime group. As he was appointed to head the task force, he was merely following orders. He had to report to and receive orders from higher ups, and he had no knowledge of the torture during interrogation. According to his attorney, “We did not have the joint intent to assault, nor the motive or purpose for any joint intent. Objectively speaking, there was no joint action to cause injury.” Furthermore, the autopsy report cannot be used as the basis for a conviction and characterising a public security task force as an organised crime group is obviously inappropriate. As deputy leader of the task force, Bai Zhenhua was appointed to the job by his superiors, and served merely to convey and carry out their instructions. During their investigation, he was not involved in the interrogation, and moreover instructed his subordinates to refrain from using potentially harmful methods. In terms of the instruction to “increase the intensity” as mentioned by the other defendants, this was merely the subjective understanding of those defendants. Furthermore, since Bai Zhenhua was not at the site of the interrogation, he did not commit any acts of torture, and therefore should not be criminally liable as such; the most he could be held responsible for was a failure in leadership.

He Defu disputed the description and charge laid out in the indictment. In his opinion, he was clearly not guilty, since he did not have the subjective intent to directly or indirectly torture the victim, nor did he take part in any acts of torture. According to his attorney, the victim in this case did not die immediately after torture, but rather after more than a month of hospital treatment. Furthermore, the third and fourth autopsy reports both mention multiple factors leading to death, and thus the prosecution committed an error in determining that the victim’s death was the result of intentional assault, when in fact the death was merely accidental. In trying to prove He Defu’s involvement in the crime of intentional assault, the prosecution relied on the testimonies of the other defendants to prove that He Defu masterminded or incited these acts, as well as video footage to prove that He Defu was the final person to arrive at the interrogation site. However, the Criminal Code states that oral testimony in lieu of other evidence is not sufficient to secure a conviction, and statements made in the heat of the moment during meetings cannot be used as evidence. As an outsider assigned to the task force, He Defu did not hold any official position within the task force, and thus could not have taken on a leadership role. The fact that the other defendants’ testimonies were all in agreement suggests the possibility of coordination between the other defendants. The principal offenders of the crime should be those who were directly involved in the torture; yet He Defu only served a supporting role, and did not have the authority to order others, as he was not a leader of the group. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction.

Wu Xuemin did not dispute the description of the crime in the indictment, but did dispute the charge; in his opinion, his crime should be soliciting forced confession, instead of intentional assault. According to his attorney, Wu Xuemin did not have a subjective cause to engage in the act of intentional assault leading to death, since his actions were all conducted in accordance with group orders. Moreover, prior to the events of 26–27 September, Wu Xuemin and others suggested a rest from the interrogation, which shows that he did not have a subjective purpose in pursuing said torture and interrogation. Since the torture and interrogation lasted for several days, the end result should not be based on the actions of the last day alone. The prosecution did not have evidence to prove that Wu Xuemin played an outstanding role during the interrogation, nor did he actively organise or arrange the process of interrogation. He was merely a passive participant in the interrogation, having no say in the direction, intensity, method, and duration of the interrogation, and thus did not have any active criminal intent. By admitting his involvement in the process, he should be eligible for a reduced sentence. Furthermore, the attorney disputed the characterisation of the autopsy report, as the victim was a long-term drug user. Moreover, the fact that the victim choked on water and frothed at the mouth raises reasonable doubt as to the cause of death, since the probability of an epileptic seizure or cardiac arrest leading to death cannot be ruled out.

Liu Xianyong disputed the description of the crime and the charge laid out in the indictment, specifically the characterisation that he took a leading and active role in the torture. According to his attorney, specific conditions should apply if the defendant is to be found guilty of intentional assault in a case involving torture during interrogation leading to bodily harm and death, namely that the perpetrator must have shown a subjective indifference toward gross bodily harm and death of the interrogated party. Liu Xianyong did not display intentional negligence and indifference toward the victim’s death, since he performed CPR on Sun Renze twice. The fact that he tried to resuscitate the victim, and his actions after the victim was rushed to hospital, showed that the death of the victim was abhorrent to him. Furthermore, even though Liu Xianyong did pour water over the victim’s face, his actions did not cause injuries to the victim’s lower limbs, which were the main cause leading to the victim suffering multiple organ failure. In addition, the attorney argued that Liu Xianyong’s actions were not sufficient to consider him a principal offender in this case: in a task force hierarchy with higher-ranked leaders above lower-ranked leaders, Liu Xianyong did not seek short-term results to secure promotion, and in objective terms did not supply the instruments used in the torture. Thus, he lacked joint intent with the other defendants, and should be treated as an accomplice rather than a primary offender.

Zhu Shengde disputed the fundamental facts and charge laid out in the indictment, arguing that he was merely following orders as a passive participant in the torture, and lacked any subjective intention to harm the victim. In his view, the police have the specific responsibility to carry out duties in the line of work; according to the People’s Police Law, superior authorities that made the decision or order shall be responsible for the consequences of execution of such a decision or order. His attorney argued that Zhu Shengde should not have been prosecuted on the charge of intentional assault, since he lacked the intent therein required. His actions as a member of the task force carrying out the interrogation were carried out as a requirement specific to the nature of his job, which entailed completing whatever task his superiors assigned him to do. The only goal of the four days of interrogation and torture was to extract oral testimony and confession and not to intentionally cause bodily harm or death. The victim’s death was the result of multiple causes, while the act of torture should be understood as the result of personnel following orders as a part of historical circumstances specific to the nature of their job; thus, Zhu Shengde should be convicted under the crime of soliciting forced confession and be relieved of criminal punishment.

After two days of intense deliberation, the judge concluded the trial sometime after 8 p.m. on 5 July. As understood by Caixin Media, a month and a half later, another half-day session was called to address concerns raised by the defendants regarding the process and quality of the autopsy conducted by the Sun Yat-sen University Forensic Examination Centre.

Ren Tingting was infuriated at “the complete lack of remorse” among family members of the defendant during the first day of the trial. She proposed that the court show the footage of the interrogation, “so that the can see with their own eyes how the ‘good son’, ‘good father’, and ‘good husband’ they speak of beat my son to death. They all said no, none of them had the stomach to watch the footage.”

One of the defendants’ attorneys remarked that the trial left a deep impression on him: “I used to be a police officer myself, so I feel particularly heavy-hearted.” In his opinion, since the defendants were all police officers with years of experience on the front line of public security, he hoped the court would take into consideration the unique circumstances during the national drive against organised crime and corruption in 2018, and give the defendants a lighter sentence. Other defendants’ attorneys also hoped that the unique circumstances of 2018 would be taken into account, and leniency would be shown to the defendants on account of the principle of ultima ratio in criminal law.

The Kuytun City Court announced its verdicts and sentences as the court of first instance on 6 November 2023: the eight defendants—Bai Zhenhua, He Defu, Wu Xuemin, Liu Xianyong, Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, Cui Liang, and Zhu Shengde—were all found guilty of intentional assault.

In the court’s opinion, as public security officials with years of experience in the line of duty, the eight defendants would have clearly known the harmful effects of their torture, yet they resorted to such means to extract testimony, which resulted in the death of the victim, and thus should be held criminally liable under the crime of intentional assault. Since the eight defendants were all members of the task force investigating the Zhao Yang case, and jointly conspired to torture the victim during interrogation, they should be considered collaborators in a joint crime. As the leaders of the task force, Bai Zhenhua and He Defu did not take part in the actual acts of torture, yet they clearly knew that their subordinates used torture to extract testimony during interrogation, and chose not to take measures to stop their actions, which ultimately led to the death of the victim; thus, the two bear ultimate criminal responsibility as primary offenders, and were sentenced each to 13 years behind bars. Wu Xuemin and Liu Xianyong were active participants in the torture, and thus should be considered primary offenders who led by example; they were sentenced to 10 and 12 years respectively. Shi Donghua, Jin Bowen, Zhu Shengde, and Cui Liang played secondary roles in the joint crime, and were thus considered accomplices; they were sentenced to 5 years, 5 years, 4 years, and 3 years respectively.

Regarding the Zhao Yang case, which triggered the events that led to the torture and death of Sun Renze, the police were never able to make Sun Renze confess that Zhao Yang was behind the illegal kidnapping and death of Deng Xuefei, and use this to convict Zhao under the charge of organised crime and corruption. However, in 2021 Zhao Yang was still convicted by the Ili Prefecture Intermediate Court as the leader of an organised crime syndicate, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for multiple crimes. He is currently appealing his conviction and sentence in prison.

According to a lawyer in Ili Prefecture, the police started out by saying the Zhao Yang case was the largest organised crime and corruption case in the prefecture. Yet, after wasting so much time trying to tie a murder and an “umbrella” to the case, they finally dropped the “corruption” part, and they pursued the case as organised crime instead. In the end, they finally managed to land Zhao Yang a 25-year sentence, as well as prison sentences for more than 40 other accomplices. During the trial for the Zhao Yang case, the courtroom was packed with people from all the relevant authorities in the prefecture, and officials made a lot of noise stressing the importance of this case. Yet, nothing about the case can be found on the official website of Ili Prefecture, nor is the judgement available on the China Judgements Online website.

Caixin Media has also learned of a separate case involving the director and deputy director of the Huocheng County Detention Centre, on charges of neglecting duty, which has already been tried by the Kuytun City Court. Director Sun and Deputy Director Chai actively compensated the victims and received their forgiveness; the two have not been sentenced yet.