HONG KONG—Authorities in the southwestern Chinese provinceof Guizhou have announced the results of a third autopsy on a 17-year-old schoolgirlwhose death sparked riots after locals accused police of covering up arape and murder. The new results support the original verdict of death by drowning.
A team of 10 criminal investigatorsand forensic experts was sent down to Weng'an county last week to re-open the investigation intothe death of Li Shufen, whose body was recovered from a river in the countyJune 22.
The people of Weng'an believe that the truth will eventually be uncovered, and that some day the whole world will know it."<br/>Guizhou-based activist Liao Shuangyuan
The team performed a third autopsy on the girl's body with reporters in attendance, concluding that there were no signs of sexual assault, and that she drowned in the river in which her body was found. The original police report on Li, a former pupil at the No. 3 MiddleSchool in Weng'an, initially said her death was a suicide by drowning, but herfamily insisted she was raped and killed.
"The provincial level examiner performed the autopsy," an official at government offices in Weng'an county, where the girl lived, said. "And with the victim’s family’s permission, the media were at the scene to monitor the autopsy process," the official added,
Officials are hoping the announcement will ease tensions in the town following riots on June 28 in which thousands set fire to police buildings and cars.
Activists investigate
But a social activist who joined an independent investigation into Li's death said local residents were still keen to know more about Li's death.
"The people of Weng’an believe that the truth will eventually beuncovered, and that some day the whole world will know it," Guizhou-based activist Liao Shuangyuansaid.
An officer who answered the phone at the Weng'an county public security bureau said police were trying to track down the source of fast-proliferating rumors spreading online and among local residents, and were conducting investigations in primary and middle schools to find out who participated in the riots.
Meanwhile, police detained three Guizhou-based activists trying to carrying out an independent investigation and threatened them with prison if they released any details of the case. Chen Xi, Liao Shuangyuan and Wu Yuqin were detained after arriving in Weng'an county Tuesday.
"We were let go after 11 p.m," Liao said. "The police asked us where we went and who we talked to in Weng'an. They also asked why we used video cameras."
Threat of jail
"They treated us like suspects, and warned us not to tell anyone anything of what we encountered," he said.
Liao said the police were particularly interested in knowing what the trio had managed to discover. "They took away our camera and recorder and told us that we could be arrested at any time if we disclose any information about this case," he said.
Amateur video posted on video sharing sites, including YouTube, showed crowdsoutside the Weng'an county Public Security Bureau office building, which was onfire, surrounding by overturned and burning vehicles.
The official Xinhua news agency said up to 30,000 people took to the streets inprotest over the weekend.
It said parts of the county's Communist Party Committee building were gutted byfire, and 20 police vehicles were burnt, with more than 150 people, includingmore than 100 police, injured during the clashes.
Police in Weng'an have defended their handling of the unrest, saying theyshowed "great restraint" in the face of attacks with bricks and waterbottles.
Call for 'harmony'
Guizhou provincial Communist Party chief Shi Zongyuan has called for properhandling of the incident to promote social stability and harmony. Authoritiessay the protests were "incited" by a small number of people, who werelater joined by "gangsters."
Li's fellow student, identified only by her surname, Sun, said Li had been agood student who got good reports from her teachers. She shared rentedaccommodation in the town with her elder brother.
Sun said teachers at the school had also told students that Li drowned herselfin the river. But many versions of events posted online had confused thepupils, so they didn't know what to believe, she added.
Comments and postings on the riots were removed as fast as they were posted.
Original reporting in Mandarin by QiaoLong and Ding Xiao, and in Cantonese by Fung Yat-yiu. Translated and written for the Web inEnglish by Luisetta Mudie and Jia Yuan. Cantonese service director: Shiny Li.Edited by Mandarin service director Jennifer Chou and Sarah Jackson-Han.