ZHENGZHOU - A 29-year-old man died mysteriously in a detention house last Sunday in Central China's Henan province after being held for a month, leaving the police and his family in disagreement over the cause of his death.

The police of Zhecheng county in Shangqiu city told Wang Shouzhang's family that he died suddenly of a heart attack with "no physical injuries", while his family insist he died unnaturally, since his body was bruised.

"His body was so injured; blood was visible around his nose and ears and his chest was swollen with bruises," Li Guizhi, Wang's mother, told China Daily.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. My boy was so healthy, how could he suddenly have a heart attack? No one in our family has ever had a heart attack."

Shan Dengjun, a publicity official with Zhecheng police bureau, said the cause of death having been listed as a heart attack was "inaccurate" and an inquiry is being conducted into the circumstances surrounding Wang's death.

Following an investigation, the local police released a statement in which they ruled out the possibility that Wang had been beaten.

Wang, a truck driver with a 4-year-old son, was detained by Zhecheng police on April 9 on suspicion of robbery.

According to the police statement, at 1:30 am last Sunday Wang suddenly fainted while working in the detention house with two other detainees. He was sent to a hospital at 2 am and died after emergency treatment, the police said.

"If everything is as clean as the police claim, why did they stop us from taking pictures of him and smash our cell phones?" Li asked.

Describing the sequence of events in which she learned of her son's death, Li said her family received a call from the police last Sunday telling them to go see Wang.

When they arrived, they were told to wait in a hotel. As time passed, she became so anxious that she and her daughter-in-law knelt before the policemen who were standing guard over them to ask what was going on.

"They finally told us he was dead. And after a few hours they led us to a crematorium. Why didn't they tell us straight away that he was dead? And why did they move his body to a crematorium, instead of leaving it at the hospital?"

On Wednesday they were asked to sign a document authorizing an autopsy to be carried out on Wang's body, but they refused because they do not trust the local government.

The local procuratorate went ahead with the autopsy and concluded that no injuries were found on Wang's body.

Shi Baoyin contributed to this story.

China daily

(China Daily 05/28/2010 page5)