Probe after bullied man dies in custody

Four officials are under investigation in southern China following the death of a man in police custody after reportedly being bullied and beaten by fellow inmates.

A section chief, surnamed Zhang, of Yangshuo County procuratorate in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has been suspended.

Investigations into three police officials in Yangshuo detention house are also taking place.

And a separate probe into whether police were involved in the beatings is ongoing, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Mo Youwen, 38, was brought to the center on November 8 last year and held there on suspicion of theft.

Insiders said Mo became a target for He Jianyun, a repeat offender moved from prison, and Su Shaoqin, who was in the center for holding someone against their will.

Mo also struggled with a labor task assigned to his room, making artificial flowers, holding back the team's work, insiders added.

Surveillance camera footage showed one roommate hit Mo on the head with a wooden brush, before Su joined in and beat Mo severely.

On December 14, by now "half-dead," according to the report, Mo moved to another room in a bid to escape his tormentors.

It was reported that in desperation Mo knelt down in front of He to beg for mercy.

However, this only served to anger He as he thought Mo's act of pleading resembled someone worshipping the dead, and that this was unlucky.

He battered Mo with a pair of shoes and when his victim collapsed, stamped on him, the paper reported.

Mo fell into a coma and was sent to hospital on December 16. He was pronounced dead late the next day from multiple organ failure.

He had air inside his central chest cavity and had suffered scalp injuries the autopsy showed.

Insiders said there had been plenty signs that Mo was suffering continual abuse.

Every inmate was supposed to gather in the center yard each morning for an exercise session, but Mo had been absent since December 10.

If officials had performed their duties properly, they would have seen the condition he was in, said insiders.

It was also claimed that Mo did not eat in the two days before he died.

And local prosecutors had earlier been made aware of bullying, the paper reported.

Mo's brother said Huang Qingli, deputy political commissar of Yangshuo Public Security Bureau, gave the family 900,000 yuan (US$145,260).

Yangshuo People's Procuratorate was named one of the best of 3,186 grassroots procuratorates in China.

He Jianyun has been charged with intentional injury.