Ji Zhongxing, who detonated a bomb in protest inside the Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) on Saturday, had been severely assaulted by members of local city urban administrative and law enforcement bureau in 2005 for running an unlicensed motorcycle taxi service, it has emerged. The sustained assault left Ji paralysed.
Ji wrote on his microblog – which has since been taken down by censors – that around eight members of the bureau, known as “Chengguan” in Chinese accosted and then beat him up in June, 2005 in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
He wrote on his blog - translated from Chinese by the news website Shanghaiist Daily – that he was repeatedly hit with steel pipes till he fell unconscious on the night of June 28 in 2005.
“They hit me until I was unconscious, and only took me to hospital when they'd seen the police car that was following me had also arrived onto the scene, and that I was practically dead. After that, they disappeared without a trace,” he wrote.
Subsequently, his requests for compensation and justice were not met.
“Because we are farmers, and are poor, no matter who we turn to, nobody wants to help us. And what's more, when the Chengguan found us, they turned around and called us tramps and beat us. If it weren't for them taking us to hospital on time, I wouldn't have survived,” Ji said in his blog.
The Chengguan – charged with enforcing urban management including local bylaws, sanitation, pollution control, municipal affairs and water in large cities - have been involved in several high-profile cases where they have been accused of violence.
In a latest case, the police on Saturday detained six urban management officers who allegedly attacked a married couple selling watermelons on the roadside, leaving the man dead and his wife in a coma, state media reported.
Reports have also compared Ji’s case to that of Qian Mingqi, who blew up three government buildings in Fuzhou in 2011 after two of his homes were demolished and he did not get adequately compensated.
Meanwhile, Ji’s family on Sunday said they did not know of the bomber's plans beforehand, according to a statement from the police department of the city of Heze the bomber's hometown in Shandong province.
Reports have also compared Ji’s case to that of Qian Mingqi, who blew up three government buildings in Fuzhou in 2011 after two of his homes were demolished and he did not get adequately compensated.
Meanwhile, Ji’s family on Sunday said they did not know of the bomber's plans beforehand, according to a statement from the police department of the city of Heze the bomber's hometown in Shandong province.