A Beijing court Sunday denied a report that 10 people who had intercepted and detained petitioners coming to Beijing were sentenced for illegal detention on November 28.
"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," said Huang Shuo, spokesman for Beijing's Chaoyang District People's Court, telling the Global Times that the widely circulated report was fake.
A report by Beijing Youth Daily said that 10 suspects, including three minors, from Changge, Central China's Henan Province, had detained a number of petitioners travelling from Henan to Beijing to petition higher authorities.
According to previous reports in May, the 10 suspects were arrested by police at a "detention house" allegedly set up by officers from the Changge office in Beijing to hold petitioners from Henan.
Huang admitted the existence of the case but said a sentence has not yet been passed.
Experts say that cracking down on illegal detentions is significant in warning local governments to protect petitioners' basic rights.
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