A Hunan court on Thursday reject an appeal by four city management officers (chengguan) who beat a fruit vendor to death late last year, Xinhua reports.
Chenzhou Intermediate People's Court upheld the prison terms of 11, six, four, and three and a half years for officers Liao Weichang, Yuan Cheng, Luo Weiping, and Xia Jiyu respectively.
The city management officers (chengguan) had a fight with watermelon vendor Deng Zhengjia, 56, in July last year when he and his wife were moved on. The court heard that Deng defended himself with his weighing balance, which angered the officers who then beat him up, causing an intracranial hemorrhage and his death on the spot.
Deng's death ignited a fresh round of criticism on the unchecked violence of chengguan in their work to disperse street vendors. Chengguan officers are said to exercise their duty rudely and instigate violence when vendors refuse to obey their orders.
The four officers appealed after the first trial in December last year. The Chenzhou court rejected the appeals, explaining the sentences have already been given with leniency taking consideration of the fact that they voluntarily confessed their crimes.
Last month, a mob attacked and beat several chengguan after they assaulted a passerby who attempted to photograph them hassling a street vendor. In January, urban management officials were voted China's 'most distrusted' government workers in an online poll.
[Image via Xinhua]
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