China media retract report of black jail sentences

Chinese state media said on Monday that a court has yet to sentence 10 defendants for the highly sensitive crime of illegally detaining people seeking to have their complaints heard by the central government, retracting earlier reports.

The newspaper reported on Sunday that the Chaoyang District Court had sentenced one defendant to a year and a half in prison on November 28 and given months-long sentences to nine other men. The Guangmingwang website and other official news outlets carried the newspaper’s report.

By Monday, Guangmingwang and the and newspapers said the original report was not true. There was no immediate explanation for the turnaround, and repeated calls to the court seeking clarification rang unanswered. Editors at the could also no immediately be reached for comment.

The defendants in the case have not been identified, but the quoted a court spokesman as acknowledging such a case was pending.

“The court did not pass sentence on a case like that on that day and we are investigating to what extent the story was untrue,” it quoted court spokesman Huang Shuo as saying. Huang gave no details on whether it had gone to trial.

Illegal detention of petitioners is believed to be common, but like all legal and public order issues in China, is a matter of great sensitivity. Such petitioners are intercepted by local government agents and detained illegally in shabby hostels commonly known as “black jails”.