The wife of Lei Yang, a 29-year-old environmentalist, filed a case on Tuesday at the People’s Procuratorate of Beijing over the death of her husband almost one hour after he was arrested by police in early May.
The Beijing resident was detained during a raid on a foot massage parlor on May 7 and died after one hour, reported Global Times. He was taken into custody for allegedly soliciting prostitutes at around 9:15 a.m., but after 50 minutes he was brought to a nearby hospital with no signs of life, reported The South China Morning Post.
He left house on Saturday night to pick some relatives from Beijing airport. The relatives from Hunan were visiting to see Lei’s newborn daughter. Between 9:04 and 9:16 p.m., he was picked up by five or six cops in plainclothes near the foot massage parlor while coming from Longjin 3rd street. Witnesses said they saw Lei run away from the policemen and screaming for help.
Lei’s wife accused the police of intentional injury, abuse of power and evidence forgery. She claimed Lei had bruised on his arm and forehead and other wounds, but when the family tried to take photos of his injuries, the police stopped them.
But the district police’s version is that Lei tried to resist arrest and escape. They added that a sex trade worker was willing to admit on state television that Lei allegedly solicited her services. He allegedly paid the prostitute 200 yuan ($31) for sex.
However, Lei’s wife, Wu, said the surveillance footage failed to prove that her husband tried to hire a sex trade worker. She said the condom with Lei’s body fluid is forged evidence because the police had access to the Beijing man’s body after his death. She also accused the police of delaying treatment that 50 minutes after his arrest, Lei died.
The camera that was supposed to have a recording of Lei’s arrest to provide evidence what really happened, but the police claimed the device is broken, reported What’s on Weibo.
The incident triggered anger among Chinese who expressed their emotions on social media. When the Changping police published a statement on its Weibo account, it received more than 32,800 comments from Chinese netizens seeking evidence.
Authorities have performed an autopsy on Lei’s body and the results are expected to be released within 20 days.