How did Wu Yuren end up Incarcerated on May 31st, 2010?

RE: Wu Yuren’s Police Beating, Unlawful Detention and Arrest

On May 31st, 2010, at about 4 pm in the afternoon, my husband accompanied Yang Licai, the owner of the Sugar Jar CD Music shop in 798, to the Jiuxianqiao Police Station.  Mr. Yang was going to the police to make a complaint about certain actions by the 798 Management and my husband was accompanying him as a friend. Wu and Yang did not return home that afternoon and no notice of their detention was given to their family, friends or colleagues. On June 1st, 2010, Wu and Yang were both transferred to the Chaoyang District Detention Center.  Wu was placed in the criminal section of the center, while Yang was placed in the civil section. On June 11th, 2010, Yang was released from the detention center after serving 10 days. For reasons we still do not know, the time allotment on Wu’s form was left blank and he is still in criminal detention.

We have strong evidence to support the fact that Wu Yuren was beaten by police officers on the night of May 31st, 2010, as follows: 1) when I came to the police station on June 1st, I saw Wu through an open window as I was parking my car. He was holding his arm and said, “I have been beaten”; 2) when Yang Licai came from the detention center on June 11th, I met with him and he gave his account of hearing painful screams from Wu on the night of May 31st, after Wu was dragged by police officers to another room in the police station; 3) Wu’s lawyer visited Wu in the detention center on the morning of July 5th, and on July 26th, where Wu told the lawyer how he was dragged to a room, shirt pulled over his head and beaten by 4-5 police officers, and also received many major bumps to his skull, and a scar purposely carved above eye by a policeman’s long finger nail; 4) when Wu arrived at the detention center on June 1st, he requested and was given an x-ray of his arm, but was never shown the results.

On Tuesday July 6th, I went to the Jiuxianqiao Police Station to pick up Wu’s personal belongings, which consisted of clothes, shoes, his Nokia cell phone, an x-ray receipt, a letter from Wu to me, his electric bike key, and the original piece of paper that I had left at the police station counter on the afternoon of June 1st, with my name and number in Chinese, requesting them to contact me with any information.  Officer Liu Dawei and Officer Zhang Yue, both on duty the night of May 31st, refused to answer any of my questions about the events of May 31st, 2010. Holding up his hand while walking quickly away from me, Liu repeatedly said, “I am avoiding this case, I am no longer involved.”

I have never been informed by telephone or formal written notice about the detention of Wu on May 31st, 2010. It is as if he just disappeared. I had to drive to two different police stations on June 1st to try and locate him because he never came home and did not answer his phone or respond to text messages. This detention is a clear violation of Chinese law, which states that after a Chinese citizen is detained, the police must contact the spouse/family in person, and supply a formal written document informing about the detainment.

My husband is a peaceful and law-abiding man, and I find it difficult to believe that he would have assaulted an officer of the law, even if he himself were attacked. His friends and family also believe steadfastly in his innocence, I have been told that Wu has been detained for “Obstructing Public Service”. I understand that these are serious charges. However, how is it that a law-abiding citizen goes into a police station to report on a crime and ends up being beaten and unlawfully detained and arrested?