On September 28, 2025, 11 personnel involved in the public security organs were sentenced in the first instance, with the maximum sentence being 16 years and the minimum being 1 year and 9 months.
Zhang Xuguang, a staff member of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Xinle City Public Security Bureau, was a member of the command group of the special case team. He claimed that after the procuratorial organ filed the case, he was also “designated to reside”, during which he also suffered torture to extract confessions, and the content of the interrogation records was untrue.
▲ From February 13 to 14, 2025, eight case-handling personnel of the “5·25” special case were tried at the Baoding Intermediate People’s Court’s judicial police training base. (Photo by Nanfang Weekend reporter Han Qian / Photo)
There is another phased progress in the death of Bao Qinrui, who was “designated to reside”. On September 28, 2025, 11 personnel involved in the public security organs were sentenced in the first instance, with the maximum sentence being 16 years and the minimum being 1 year and 9 months.
Three years ago, on July 20, 2022, 34-year-old Bao Qinrui died during residential surveillance at a designated location (hereinafter referred to as “designated residence”).
Thirteen days before the incident, he and his father Bao Jiye, his brother Bao Shaorui, and 10 others were taken away from their homes by the police, and were accused of participating in beating migrant workers and usury. The case was named the “5·25” special case, and was jointly handled by the Yuhua Branch of the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau of Hebei Province, the Xinle City (a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Shijiazhuang) Public Security Bureau, and the Gaoyi County Public Security Bureau.
After Bao Qinrui’s death, all the co-defendants were released on bail, and then all bail was lifted, because “it was found that criminal responsibility should not be pursued”.
On September 19, 2023, Southern Weekend reported the case. On November 25, 2023, the case of the “5·25” special case team members suspected of dereliction of duty was under the jurisdiction of the Baoding Municipal People’s Procuratorate.
After the investigation was concluded, the eight personnel involved from the Xinle City Public Security Bureau were prosecuted by the Lianchi District People’s Procuratorate of Baoding City, and the first instance was held on February 13, 2025; the three personnel involved from the Yuhua Branch of the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau were prosecuted by the Wangdu County People’s Procuratorate, and the first instance was held on September 16, 2025.
On September 28, 2025, the two cases were pronounced on the same day.
Among the 11 people, except for Ma Linxuan of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Xinle City Public Security Bureau, the other 10 were all found to constitute the crime of torture to extract confessions. Ma Linxuan and four of them directly participated in the torture to extract confessions of Bao Qinrui, causing his death, constituting the crime of intentional injury.
Southern Weekend reporters learned that Hu Wei, deputy head of the Criminal Police Detachment of the Shijiazhuang Public Security Bureau, was also involved in this matter and was handled separately.
1 Extorting confessions
According to the first-instance judgment of the Lianchi District People’s Court of Baoding City, Zhang Xuguang, a staff member of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Xinle City Public Security Bureau, and police officers Xing Zichao, Wang Ziqian, Wu Weitao, and Ma Linxuan participated in the torture to extract confessions of Bao Qinrui.
During the “designated residence”, Bao Qinrui was restricted in his activities on an iron interrogation chair for a long time. He also suffered beatings, electric shocks, etc. The tools used by the torturers included a hand-cranked telephone, PVC pipes, and pickaxe handles.
Xing Zichao’s confession in the case stated that around 8 p.m. on July 19, 2022, he and his colleagues took Bao Qinrui out of the room, and Bao Qinrui fell to the ground and shouted. After the ambulance arrived, he followed Bao Qinrui to the hospital, and the doctor said that Bao Qinrui could not be saved.
Zhang Xuguang was a member of the command group of the special case team. Afterwards, he asked everyone to delete the chat records about the “5·25” special case on their mobile phones, arranged for the special case team members to move away the iron interrogation chair, and asked them to hand over their work notebooks.
According to the identification of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate Judicial Appraisal Center, Bao Qinrui suffered long-term restrictive body positions, repeated mechanical injuries, and electric shock injuries, which could cause endothelial damage, change blood flow velocity, and activate the blood coagulation system, etc. Under the influence of various external factors, Bao Qinrui developed deep vein thrombosis in his lower limbs and detached, which then led to pulmonary thromboembolism, causing acute respiratory and circulatory failure and death.
In addition to Bao Qinrui, Bao Jitao, who was in the same case, was also injured during the designated residence. The judgment found that Li Shaohua, a police officer from the Xinle City Public Security Bureau, kicked Bao Jitao’s chest and abdomen during the interrogation, causing a fracture of the sixth and seventh ribs on his left side, which was assessed as a minor injury of level two.
The Wangdu County People’s Court tried the case of Geng Chunyuan, deputy captain of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Yuhua Branch, and Ren Lipeng and Wang Lianda, police officers of the Yuhua Branch, who were suspected of torture to extract confessions.
During the trial, Geng Chunyuan argued that he was only performing his job duties, did not engage in favoritism or malpractice, and did not torture anyone to extract confessions, but only transmitted information.
The court held that Geng Chunyuan played a leading, arranging, and commanding role in the process of torture to extract confessions. In order to obtain the guilty confessions of Bao Jiye and others, Geng Chunyuan asked to increase the intensity of the interrogation, and Ren Lipeng and Wang Lianda used methods such as slapping to extort confessions, and at the same time, Ren Lipeng used insulting methods to extort confessions.
From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on July 12, 2022, in order to increase the intensity of the interrogation, Geng Chunyuan also arranged for Ren Lipeng and Wang Lianda to take Bao Jiye to a small courtyard of a family farm in Mucun Township, Xinle City, and continued to use various methods to extort confessions from Bao Jiye.
2 The defendants were also “designated to reside”
Whether it was the eight people from the Xinle City Bureau or the three people from the Yuhua Branch, some people claimed that they had suffered torture to extract confessions during the trial, and some of the confessions were untrue and should be excluded as illegal evidence.
On February 13 and 14, 2025, the Lianchi District People’s Court of Baoding City publicly tried the eight special case team members of the Xinle Public Security Bureau for the crimes of intentional injury and torture to extract confessions.
At the court, Zhang Xuguang said that after the procuratorial organ filed the case against them, he was also “designated to reside”, during which he also suffered torture to extract confessions, and the content of the interrogation records was untrue.
His defense lawyer pointed out that during Zhang Xuguang’s “designated residence”, he applied to meet Zhang Xuguang many times but was not permitted. Police officer Chen Zeping said that his interrogation records were induced, and the procuratorate investigators asked him to memorize the records of others and then make records according to what they said.
During the trial, the presiding judge read out the investigation results: the collegiate panel retrieved the synchronous audio and video recordings of the interrogation and did not find that the investigation agency used violent methods or disguised physical punishment against Zhang Xuguang. Regarding Chen Zeping’s claim that the investigated personnel were induced, the collegiate panel did not find the above-mentioned problems after review.
On September 16 and 17, 2025, when the Wangdu County People’s Court tried the case of the three special case team members of the Yuhua Branch suspected of torture to extract confessions, Geng Chunyuan, Ren Lipeng, and Wang Lianda also mentioned that they were forced to confess and induced.
Moreover, the three people also believed that the “designated residence” place was illegal. Wang Lianda’s defense attorney submitted the house lease contract, housing lease application, rent invoice, and expense reimbursement form of Wang Lianda’s wife at the court, to prove that Wang Lianda had a residence in Baoding City, and the practice of the case-handling unit to “designate him to reside” was illegal.
The judgment responded to this: the housing leased by Wang Lianda’s wife’s work unit for her to work in another place cannot be regarded as Wang Lianda’s fixed residence, so the opinions put forward by Wang Lianda and his defense attorney were not accepted.
In addition, the judgment pointed out that the case-handling unit had issued a relevant situation description, and the “designated residence” place had normal living and rest conditions, was convenient for supervision and management, had safety and prevention measures, and was separated from the interrogation place.
As for the three defendants’ claim that they suffered forced confessions and inducement during the “designated residence”, and the evidence obtained during this period should be excluded, the court held that the three defendants and their defense attorneys did not put forward specific and clear clues or materials, and did not belong to the circumstances that should be excluded, and would not be excluded.
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