A woman in central China who refused to comply with demolition officials, was recently found dead in the rubble of her home after having been missing for 21 days. The family have accused local officials of burying her alive.
Gong Xuehui, a 60-year-old peasant, has been missing since June 16, after some hundred cadres and police in black uniforms and red armbands forcefully razed her four-floor house to the ground.
The city’s investigation report on July 12 found 4 crew members and 23 officials, including the regional committee secretary and district chief, guilty of negligence. However, no legal action has been taken.
“The local district office, upon the request of Mount Chazi Village Committee, carried out an illegal house demolition, and in negligence accidentally caused people’s death during house demolition,” states the notice.
Gong’s family members were dragged from their home into separate minibuses and released only after the swift demolition was over—Gong was nowhere to be found.
The family started a desperate search, using all means available—they went to the village committee, demolition office, various hospitals and the detention center, and inquired with the police daily for a week, yet no trace of Gong appeared.
