China Censors Police Brutality Report After Death in Custody

An investigative report that brought to light a tragic case of police brutality resulting in the death of a man in custody was scrubbed by Chinese internet censors on Monday, shortly after its publication. The report by financial outlet Caixin revealed court documents from China’s troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang, where the victim, identified as Sun Renze, had been arrested on March 27, 2018, for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” a public order crime that is widely applied by Chinese authorities to arbitrarily detain suspects and human rights activists alike. Incidents of torture, disappearances, indefinite detentions and unexplained deaths are…