Liaoning's Denial of Masanjia Torture Claims Unconvincing

Описание: It was a short and swift investigation, after gruesome accounts of torture emerged from Liaoning's Masanjia Women's Labor Camp. The only problem is, very few people believe the conclusion of the official inquiry report.

On Friday, April 19, authorities from Liaoning province flatly denied the claims made in the article, "Walking out of Masanjia." Published on April 6 by Lens Magazine, the accounts of torture and slave labor by former inmates sent shockwaves through the Chinese Internet.

[Zhu Jianguo, Former News Director, Big Weekly Magazine]:
"You can't place hope in Liaoning's investigation. It's responsible for the crimes, how can it investigate itself. It can only cover up the truth. The investigation needed to involve a third party, even international groups. Liaoning's one-sided findings won't be convincing to the public."

The official team of investigators included the former head of the Masanjia Labor Camp. Others were officials from Liaoning's judicial department and reform-through-labor commission. In other words, the same system that is alleged to have committed the abuse carried out the so-called probe.

Yuan Lin, the Lens Magazine reporter who wrote the article has defended his work. On his Sina Weibo microblog account, Yuan challenged Liaoning authorities to sue him for fabricating the article, and present their evidence in court.

A former colleague of Yuan has also thrown support behind his piece.

[Chen Yongmaio, Chinese Constitutional Scholar]:
"I believe Yuan's journalism ethics. What he said is true. He used to be a colleague at Beijing News. He has good standing in China's media industry, and he wouldn't fabricate anything. If he didn't have the evidence, he would not do the report. I know he has already investigated Masanjia for several years."

The investigation findings, first published by state-run Legal Daily, were reportedly based on a thorough 10-day inquiry, including interviews with witnesses. But before the findings came out, former inmates named in the magazine article say police harassed and threatened them to not say anything.

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