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Thursday 15 October 2009
Crime gang suspects reverse confessions
The trials of Chongqing underworld suspects, the subjects of a recent crackdown, got off to a turbulent start, with an alleged gang boss and eight co-defendants reversing their confessions and denying involvement in organised crime.
Chongqing trials of alleged triad boss and eight others get off to a rocky start
Ng Tze-wei 14 October 2009
The trials of Chongqing underworld suspects, the subjects of a recent crackdown, got off to a turbulent start, with an alleged gang boss and eight co-defendants reversing their confessions and denying involvement in organised crime.
Yang Tianqing was the first suspected gang boss to go on trial since the triad sweep started in June. Yang faces seven charges ranging from murder and blackmail to illegal possession of firearms.
The biggest bone of contention is whether the nine were in a triad group headed by Yang.
Yang argued that they did not have enough money to sustain a triad group. Other gang members said they barely knew each other before their arrest, and one said he was forced to confess. The two most repeated phrases in Chonqging No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on Monday were, “This is not true”, and “I don’t know”.
Asked about the killing of an entertainment boss, Liang Yiping, on June 26 - after the police crackdown campaign began - Yang said he only ordered his subordinates to chop Liang and did not mean to kill him. Liang was found soaked in blood with 15 knife wounds.
“Because the case is so complicated, I urge the court to retry the case,” Yang said at the end of the hearing at about 5pm. He said there was “someone bigger” who was responsible for the killing.
At the same time, in Court No 3, alleged gang boss Liu Zhongyong only admitted to illegal mining and paying off the family of the three workers killed when a mine he operated collapsed. He said he was not a gang boss. Nobody called him that. Instead, people just addressed him using his name.
Liu’s “foot soldiers” confessed to police that they fatally chopped a man for singing too loudly at a karaoke bar, but they reversed their confession yesterday, saying Liu had not ordered the killing.
Chongqing’s biggest crackdown on the underworld saw more than 2,000 people detained, including 67 gang bosses and their police protectors. Wen Qiang , former judicial bureau chief and deputy police chief, was brought down in the campaign. However, jailing the suspects may not prove easy, judging by the opening two days of the trials.
Over the years, Chongqing’s triads have extended their claws into every industry, from traditional debt collection and entertainment to property and public transport.
The courts have taken extra care with these high-profile trials. There are two tiers of security checks, separation of families, a ban on any metal items, mobile phones, pens and paper. All court officials involved in transporting the defendants have been made to live together, and must keep to detailed plans governing when and from where the defendants must be picked up.
Another gang boss, Li Yi , nicknamed Mickey Mouse, faced trial in Court No 2 yesterday, with 27 accomplices. They are accused of illegally monopolising the Linjiang area of the municipality through a property development company and a public transport company - for example by demanding extortionately high rents and demanding shareholders of companies sell out to the gang.
They face 11 charges, ranging from causing bodily harm to tax evasion.
The trial of Xie Caiping , Wen’s sister-in-law, begins today. She allegedly opened 22 casinos - which are illegal on the mainland - in the central districts of Chongqing, with one directly opposite the city’s high court. She allegedly kept 16 young men as lovers.
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Crime gang suspects reverse confessions
Chongqing trials of alleged triad boss and eight others get off to a rocky start
Ng Tze-wei
14 October 2009
The trials of Chongqing underworld suspects, the subjects of a recent crackdown, got off to a turbulent start, with an alleged gang boss and eight co-defendants reversing their confessions and denying involvement in organised crime.
Yang Tianqing was the first suspected gang boss to go on trial since the triad sweep started in June. Yang faces seven charges ranging from murder and blackmail to illegal possession of firearms.
The biggest bone of contention is whether the nine were in a triad group headed by Yang.
Yang argued that they did not have enough money to sustain a triad group. Other gang members said they barely knew each other before their arrest, and one said he was forced to confess. The two most repeated phrases in Chonqging No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on Monday were, “This is not true”, and “I don’t know”.
Asked about the killing of an entertainment boss, Liang Yiping, on June 26 - after the police crackdown campaign began - Yang said he only ordered his subordinates to chop Liang and did not mean to kill him. Liang was found soaked in blood with 15 knife wounds.
“Because the case is so complicated, I urge the court to retry the case,” Yang said at the end of the hearing at about 5pm. He said there was “someone bigger” who was responsible for the killing.
At the same time, in Court No 3, alleged gang boss Liu Zhongyong only admitted to illegal mining and paying off the family of the three workers killed when a mine he operated collapsed. He said he was not a gang boss. Nobody called him that. Instead, people just addressed him using his name.
Liu’s “foot soldiers” confessed to police that they fatally chopped a man for singing too loudly at a karaoke bar, but they reversed their confession yesterday, saying Liu had not ordered the killing.
Chongqing’s biggest crackdown on the underworld saw more than 2,000 people detained, including 67 gang bosses and their police protectors. Wen Qiang , former judicial bureau chief and deputy police chief, was brought down in the campaign. However, jailing the suspects may not prove easy, judging by the opening two days of the trials.
Over the years, Chongqing’s triads have extended their claws into every industry, from traditional debt collection and entertainment to property and public transport.
The courts have taken extra care with these high-profile trials. There are two tiers of security checks, separation of families, a ban on any metal items, mobile phones, pens and paper. All court officials involved in transporting the defendants have been made to live together, and must keep to detailed plans governing when and from where the defendants must be picked up.
Another gang boss, Li Yi , nicknamed Mickey Mouse, faced trial in Court No 2 yesterday, with 27 accomplices. They are accused of illegally monopolising the Linjiang area of the municipality through a property development company and a public transport company - for example by demanding extortionately high rents and demanding shareholders of companies sell out to the gang.
They face 11 charges, ranging from causing bodily harm to tax evasion.
The trial of Xie Caiping , Wen’s sister-in-law, begins today. She allegedly opened 22 casinos - which are illegal on the mainland - in the central districts of Chongqing, with one directly opposite the city’s high court. She allegedly kept 16 young men as lovers.
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