Police in central China's Henan province have issued a rare statement admitting that some officers may have tortured a suspect who died under detention, local media reported Tuesday.
"On March 12, 2017, a suspect died while our bureau's criminal investigation squad was handling a case of a telecommunications fraud ring," Wenxian county police said on its Twitter-like Weibo account.
"The People's Police handling the case are suspected of using torture to extract confessions and collect evidence," the March 13 statement said, adding that personnel found to have violated laws will be "resolutely punished."
The notice was viewed online more than 13 million times, Global Times newspaper noted Tuesday, with most Weibo commenter's praising the bureau for its openness about misconduct.
Chinese news outlet Paper.cn cited the bureau as saying that the officers have been suspended from duty and their cases were transferred to the local procuratorate for investigation.
It is unclear whether the suspect was brought to a hospital for treatment or died in a detention center. The bureau's public affairs department did not answer calls from AFP on Tuesday.
-AFP, Beijing
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