China arrests 6 policemen for murder after free meal

Beijing, Mar 20: Chinese authorities have arrested six policemen for killing a laid-off worker in return for a free meal from a court official who had a personal feud with the victim, a newspaper reported today.

The police officers beat Li Shengli until he was unconscious and then threw him from the third floor of a police station in Zhoukou city, Henan province, the Beijing News said.

Li was rushed to a hospital but died from injuries sustained from the fall, the newspaper said of the September 20, 2004, incident.

It said that Lu Liusheng, a local court official, had asked the policemen to teach Li a lesson after his family had an altercation with the laid-off-worker. It didn't give more details.

The court official, who treated the policemen to a meal after Li's death, has been charged with murder and abuse of power along with two of the officers.

The report said that the officers had beaten Li during questioning on a trumped-up charge and later attempted to pass off his death as a suicide.

The city's prosecutors uncovered the murder and approved the arrests of Leng Fei, deputy police chief of the police station, and five of his officers, it said.

Reuters