In Qinghai Province, Xining Pengjiazhai Police Station, during the pandemic, police officers used violent law enforcement, resulting in a man being lightly injured. Recently, the case went to trial, and the prosecutor suggested probation for the abusive police officers, sparking outrage online.
According to Dafeng News on January 25, 2022, Mr. Sun, who was working in Shenzhen, returned to his hometown in Xining, Qinghai to take care of his bedridden father battling cancer. His mother had sprained her foot, and the family of three couldn’t go downstairs for COVID-19 testing for several days. They were taken to the Pengjiazhai Police Station in Xining due to abnormal scanning results by the police.
When Sun’s mother explained the reason for the delay in getting tested, she was insulted by the police. Sun intervened to calm his mother down, which angered the police officers. Five to six police officers grabbed his arms, hair, and neck, dragged him into the women’s restroom, and physically assaulted him, asking, “Are you not satisfied with being scolded?”
Sun stated that his head and left hand were stepped on, while he held onto one police officer’s ankle with his right hand, begging them to stop hitting him. However, the police officer assaulting him said, “There are no cameras in the restroom, so after hitting you, we can claim that you fell…” Subsequently, he lost consciousness.
Upon regaining consciousness, Sun found himself lying in the hallway of the police station with his mother beside him calling out his name. He realized his pants were wet, his lower body was cold, leading him to realize he had urinated involuntarily, felt dizzy, experienced projectile vomiting, and even urinated blood. After being examined by multiple hospitals, it was revealed that Sun had multiple fractured ribs on his right side, head injuries, multiple soft tissue bruises, and a depressed fracture of the left orbital inner wall.
Subsequently, leaders of the police station visited Sun multiple times in an attempt to settle the matter privately. Eventually, they reached a settlement agreement with Sun, offering 100,000 yuan in cash and promising to handle the police officers who assaulted him.
By May of the following year, Sun’s fractured ribs had healed, but there was still no outcome from the internal investigation by the police. On May 22, 2023, Sun visited the Pengjiazhai Police Station to inquire about the case and discovered that the police officer who had assaulted him, Zhang, was still working normally and denied the assault, claiming that Sun’s injuries were self-inflicted from a fall.
Feeling outraged, Sun reported the incident to the supervisory and disciplinary departments and underwent three judicial appraisals, all confirming second-degree light injuries.
The incident was later exposed online. Following public outcry and online attention, on October 3, 2023, the Xining police initiated an investigation into the matter. Subsequently, the prosecution charged three police officers with intentional injury.
On January 14, 2025, the case was brought to trial at the Xining Chengbei Court, with Sun, the victim, sitting in the gallery but not allowed to speak.
During the trial, the defendants accused each other and shifted blame, with one defendant’s defense lawyer even questioning in court if Sun’s injuries were caused by his father’s abuse.
In the end, the prosecutor mentioned that considering the defendants’ admission of guilt and active compensation for the victim’s economic losses, they recommended lenient sentences for the three defendants, with a suggestion of a 9-month jail term with probation.
Following media coverage of the case, netizens expressed outrage. Many criticized the suggestion, stating, “Those who break the law should face additional penalties. Suggesting leniency is tantamount to openly breaking the law and shielding wrongdoers!”; “Even if they disabled someone, using probation as a solution implies acceptance of the crime”; “The public prosecutors and law enforcement are in cahoots”; “If such matters are not handled seriously, similar incidents will continue to arise.”
Some netizens expressed, “The truth of this society is this: when money speaks, the truth remains silent. When power speaks, even money retreats. Rules are only shackles for the weak and tools for the powerful. If you have a gun and I have empty hands, what you hold is my life. The so-called laws, rules, and morality can only hold true on the basis of equality.”
Other netizens analyzed, “1. The police officers at the Pengjiazhai Police Station, Xining City Public Security Bureau’s Chengxi Branch, abused their power, and the auxiliary police were essentially thugs; 2. The Xining Chengbei Court’s sentencing was inappropriate, with suspicions of lenient judgments for crimes committed by police and auxiliary officers; 3. Considering the aforementioned situations, the public security and political and legal systems in Xining City need reform.”