China: Fujian Authorities Cover up Gang Rape, Murder

Online message forums were buzzing this month with news that authorities in Fujian Province were covering up the gang rape and murder of a 25-year-old woman. Authorities in Minqing County released a statement last week stating Ms Yan Xiaoling died from internal bleeding due to a failed pregnancy. But in a telephone interview with NTD, Ms. Yan’s mother recounted the grief of seeing her daughter’s mutilated body in the hospital morgue, and says local authorities destroyed the evidence.

A post on the popular Kaidi forum claimed 25-year-old Yan Xiaoling from Minqing County had been raped and killed by triad figure Nie Zhihong in February this year.

More than 17 million people clicked on the post, causing communist authorities in Fujian to respond.

On Thursday the 18th the authorities issued a statement, which said:

„After forensic examination, the county public security bureau has concluded that Yan Xiaoling died from hemorrhagic shock caused by ectopic pregnancy bleeding.“

The statement also accused her mother, Lin Xiuying, of being stubborn and paranoid in petitioning for compensation.

But in a telephone interview with NTD, Ms. Lin said the authorities were lying. She told a harrowing story of her pretty 25-year-old daughter being forced into sexual servitude by local triad leader Nie Zhihong, who threatened to kill her family members if she didn’t obey him.

On the evening of February 10, she said her daughter got a phone call from Nie demanding she meet with him. She said her daughter was frightened but insisted on leaving.The next day she received news that her daughter was in hospital, and hurried to the hospital morgue to find her daughter’s dead body with eyes wide open and teeth clenched.

Her daughter’s underwear was nowhere to be seen and her uterus was torn and mutilated.

Ms. Lin said hospital staff told her they had found semen, and her daughter was probably gang-raped by at least five people.

But she said the entire process of calling for justice had been frustrated by local authorities. First, police failed to make note of the details of her daughter’s condition.

Then the public security department asked her to pay thousands of yuan as a forensic examination fee.Then her daughter’s body was cremated without the family’s permission.

Ms. Yan’s uterus, ovaries and other body parts were removed, and the police told the family they had been sent for testing. But according to Ms. Yan’s uncle, Lin Aide, Yan Xiaoling’s brother returned to the hospital three days later to find the excised body parts weren’t being preserved and had simply been left to rot.

[Lin Xiuying, Yan Xiaoling’s Mother]
„They didn’t even investigate, they just tore out her uterus and threw it in a rubbish bin, is this someone investigating a case? I cannot do anything.“

[Lin Aide, Yan Xiaoling’s Uncle]:
„This completly is the most serious crime of destroying the evidence, is this how the police behave when they investigate a case?“

Ms. Lin also said the authorities‘ claims that her daughter was pregnant were ludicrous, as she had her period just days before her death. Ms. Lin has petitioned to authorities at all levels since February, and even appealed directly to Beijing, but she says nobody will listen.

Amidst the online discussion, there are unsubstantiated reports that the triad leader Nie Zhihong was friendly with officials in the county public security bureau, as well as the county prosecutor.

(NTDTV)