Police in northwest China's Gansu Province will reward 50,000 yuan
(US$6,394) to anyone with clues related to the murder of a local
judge and his family members, local media reported today.
Chen Yiming, chief judge of the intermediate court's No. 2
criminal court in Linxia Hui Prefecture of Gansu Province, his
wife, grandson and their maid were found dead in their apartment on
Tuesday.
Local police found four bullet shells at the scene. The Ministry
of Public Security has sent experts to Linxia to help investigate
the case.
Chen's colleagues said he has been awarded several times for
making contributions and used to win the title of "outstanding
provincial judge." Neighbors said the Chen's were kind people and
had no apparent conflicts with others.
When Chen's daughter-in-law reached the apartment at 8 PM
Tuesday, she found Chen faced down in a pool of blood in a bedroom.
She then found her 8-year-old son bound to a chair with his hands
tied and his mouth taped, dead from an apparent head wound. The
judge's wife and the maid's bodies were found kneeling on the
bathroom floor with their hands tied behind them with adhesive
tape.
Chen and his wife were both 58.
A doctor from the local first aid center, who went to the scene,
said Chen's room had clearly been ransacked. The doctor said the
boy's body was still warm, but his breathing had stopped.
The intermediate court has reported the case to the provincial
higher court.
Chen was scheduled to retire in two years, according to China's
age limit for civil servants. He had been acting as the court chief
since 1994, two years after being appointed to the court.
This is the second family murder case of Chinese officials in
the national press spotlight in just over two weeks. On November
27, Wen Jiangang, governor of Xingren County in southwest China's
Guizhou Province, was found murdered in his
home, along with his wife, son, mother-in-law, elder sister and the
family babysitter.
Local police detained a suspect named Cao Hui earlier this
month, and say the man, 42, has confessed to the murders.
(Shanghai Daily December 15, 2006)