Craig
12-12-2002, 01:50 AM
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/stor...,160182,00.html (http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,160182,00.html)?
Outrage in China over arrests of virgins for prostitution
Innocent girls are tortured by police until they 'confess' to having sold sex
BEIJING - A public outcry has erupted in China's state media and its Internet chatrooms after reports that police have arrested several virgin girls this year on prostitution charges and tortured them into confessing.
In the most recent case, a 19-year-old girl from northern China's Hebei province was arrested on prostitution charges in August at a barber shop where she worked, the Life Times said.
According to the report, the girl said that officers beat her badly with an electric baton and that she told them she had sold sex to nine men because she feared further torture.
She was locked up for 82 hours and handcuffed to a heater for the night.
To prove her innocence, the girl went to a hospital for a medical check-up after her release and doctors confirmed that she was still a virgin.
The girl had planned to use a certificate issued by her doctor to sue the police, but when they learned of her plans, they re-arrested her in September on defamation charges.
She was only released after her parents went to the provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, and appealed to high-ranking officials to investigate.
The Shijiazhuang people's procurator later confirmed that she was innocent and that the police had tortured her.
The report is being investigated and it remains unclear whether any of the officers involved will face charges.
The nine people the girl identified as her customers and the manager of the barber shop were also tortured by police and forced to confess, the report said. They were each fined between 1,000 yuan (S$217) and several thousand yuan.
Earlier this year, a young woman in northern Shaanxi province sued police for wrongly arresting her on prostitution charges, but she only won 75 yuan in compensation.
Some critics accuse the police of making the arrests to meet quotas and collect fines.
Outrage in China over arrests of virgins for prostitution
Innocent girls are tortured by police until they 'confess' to having sold sex
BEIJING - A public outcry has erupted in China's state media and its Internet chatrooms after reports that police have arrested several virgin girls this year on prostitution charges and tortured them into confessing.
In the most recent case, a 19-year-old girl from northern China's Hebei province was arrested on prostitution charges in August at a barber shop where she worked, the Life Times said.
According to the report, the girl said that officers beat her badly with an electric baton and that she told them she had sold sex to nine men because she feared further torture.
She was locked up for 82 hours and handcuffed to a heater for the night.
To prove her innocence, the girl went to a hospital for a medical check-up after her release and doctors confirmed that she was still a virgin.
The girl had planned to use a certificate issued by her doctor to sue the police, but when they learned of her plans, they re-arrested her in September on defamation charges.
She was only released after her parents went to the provincial capital, Shijiazhuang, and appealed to high-ranking officials to investigate.
The Shijiazhuang people's procurator later confirmed that she was innocent and that the police had tortured her.
The report is being investigated and it remains unclear whether any of the officers involved will face charges.
The nine people the girl identified as her customers and the manager of the barber shop were also tortured by police and forced to confess, the report said. They were each fined between 1,000 yuan (S$217) and several thousand yuan.
Earlier this year, a young woman in northern Shaanxi province sued police for wrongly arresting her on prostitution charges, but she only won 75 yuan in compensation.
Some critics accuse the police of making the arrests to meet quotas and collect fines.