6
That person was named Qiao Yanqin.
Qiao Yanqin, from Shanxi, 21 years old, arrived at the treatment station as an attendant in 2002. He was tall, strong, and had a violent temper that intimidated the other attendants.
When Sun Zhigang called for help, Qiao Yanqin took it personally. He went to the outside of Ward 206 and said to Li Haiying and Zhong Liaoguo who were inside, "Sun Zhigang is causing trouble. I'll bring him over later and let you guys deal with him."
Here's the translation:
The difference between Wards 206 and 201 was that Ward 201 housed mental patients who generally didn't engage in violence. Ward 206 accommodated 8 people who, upon arrival, were routinely beaten; it was a rule. Li Haiying and Zhong Liaoguo were designated by the attendants as "ward leaders," and they themselves hadn't escaped being beaten initially.
Li Haiying later said, "Ward 206 was specifically for beating people. After beating them, the beaten individuals were transferred out."
At 12:30 a.m. on the 20th, Qiao Yanqin was about to finish his shift. He asked the incoming attendant to move Sun Zhigang to another ward. He first went to Ward 206 and said, "When that kid comes over, half an hour later, beat him severely. Don't hit the head, don't make him bleed."
His final words were, "Anyway, it's no big deal if he dies. A person dying here is like an ant dying."
Then he went to Ward 201, and upon entering, kicked Sun Zhigang's lower abdomen several times while he lay there, then kicked his shoulders and back. Despite Sun Zhigang pleading for him to stop, Qiao Yanqin ignored him, kicking him repeatedly until finally stopping, then dragging him to Ward 206 and shoving him in.
As soon as Sun Zhigang was inside, he found a bed near the toilet and fell asleep.
Qiao Yanqin went downstairs to have a late-night snack. He didn't have to stay there because he knew as long as he had given orders, nobody dared disobey him.
True to form, half an hour later, Li Haiying called out to Ward 206, "Time's up, start!"
Someone asked, "Why do we have to beat him?"
Li Haiying cursed, "If you don't beat him, I'll deal with you!"
All eight people surrounded Sun Zhigang, dragged him out, punched him, struck him with elbows, slammed him with kneecaps, kicked him with their feet, and even jumped and landed heavily on his back, before lifting him and throwing him forcefully to the ground.
Sun Zhigang crouched on the ground, holding his head, begging them to stop; he couldn't take it anymore.
Another female attendant saw the altercation on the surveillance footage and hurried to stop them, saying, "If you keep causing trouble, do you even want to leave?"
Qiao Yanqin also approached and pulled her away, then turned to Li Haiying before leaving, saying, "Ignore her, keep going, the beating isn't hard enough yet."
Once the attendants left, Li Haiying told the others, "If the security isn't satisfied with the beating, and if we don't follow their instructions, we'll all be in trouble. Let's beat him for another half hour."
The female attendant returned to the surveillance room and saw them beating someone again. Along with another attendant, they brought out Sun Zhigang, who was begging for mercy on his knees, and transferred him to Ward 205, where over a dozen mental patients were housed.
Sun Zhigang, wrapped in a blanket as he escaped to Ward 205, still couldn't evade the assault. Attendant Lu Erpeng poked Sun Zhigang's abdomen with a baton through the iron bars. Others saw him also enter Ward 205 with a baton, hitting Sun Zhigang when he poked his head out from the restroom.
Sun Zhigang's agonizing cries echoed through the darkness, persisting for a long time.
When everything settled down, an on-duty nurse noted in the nursing records that Sun Zhigang had been in a deep sleep for 6 hours. By this time, Sun Zhigang might have already been in a state of shock.
As the night passed and the sun rose, at 10:15 a.m. on the 20th, during a nursing round, they found Sun Zhigang lying motionless on a concrete bed, breathing weakly, face turning purple. They rushed him for emergency treatment.
Despite the efforts, 10 minutes later, the doctor declared Sun Zhigang dead, claiming that apart from minor abrasions on his toes, there were no apparent injuries on his body.
The ward supervisor said to the doctor, "Who knows how he died? Just mark it as sudden death." The doctor then wrote on the death certificate the familiar phrase we are so acquainted with: "Sudden death, cerebrovascular accident, sudden heart attack."
Another detainee had died, but to those individuals, it seemed insignificant.
Those who beat him to death didn't even know this young man by the name Sun Zhigang.
7
The individuals who assaulted Sun Zhigang were all detainees. Shortly after Sun Zhigang's death, their families paid money for their release, and some left Guangzhou to return to their hometowns.
On May 12th, 18 suspects were arrested and brought back to six provinces. When they were arrested by the police, they didn't know what they had done wrong until they were reminded; it was because they had been in a fight in Guangzhou.
On May 20th, the prosecution was initiated. On June 5th, the 18 defendants were simultaneously tried in three courts in Guangzhou. Many people who had experienced being detained applied to attend the trials but were denied.
Perhaps the prosecution is still hiding some truths; they dare not let people discover the deeper darkness behind it all.
Li Haiying's defense attorney argued, "Li Haiying and the other detainees facing charges didn't want to become the next ants killed. Dominated by the instinct of self-preservation, they feared the lecherous power of the attendants. They had no choice but to obey the attendants' orders to protect themselves. In such a violent environment, they were nothing more than tools in the hands of the attendants to harm others."
On June 9th, the court announced the verdict: Qiao Yanqin, death penalty with deprivation of political rights for life; Li Haiying, death penalty with a two-year reprieve, deprivation of political rights for life; Zhong Liaoguo, life imprisonment with deprivation of political rights for life; the remaining 15 individuals received sentences ranging from 2 to 15 years in prison.
Is this the entire truth behind Sun Zhigang's case?
We don't know.
The most crucial evidence that should have documented all the dark aspects of Sun Zhigang's case was the hospital's surveillance footage from that night. However, it was never presented among the evidence offered by the prosecution, and the defense tacitly didn't request its display in court.
What more dark scenes were captured there?
We don't know.
On June 4th, the day before the trial began, the Guangzhou government announced disciplinary actions against 23 government officials responsible for the Sun Zhigang incident, ranging from demotion to a reprimand.
The sentencing of the culprits and the punishment of officials doesn't mark the end of Sun Zhigang's case. On the contrary, its profound impact on China has only just begun. Justice arrived too late; Sun Zhigang's life couldn't be saved, but we can still save more lives.