'Taxi' entrapment was illegal, court rules

By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-20 08:06

SHANGHAI: A Shanghai court has for the first time ruled that a traffic law enforcement body conducted illegal practices in cracking down on black taxis.

The Shanghai Minhang district traffic administrative enforcement team made an illegal punishment by falsely accusing local resident Zhang Hui of operating an illegal taxi, confiscating his car and fining him 10,000 yuan ($1,500), officials from Shanghai Minhang district court announced yesterday afternoon.

On Sept 8, Zhang, on the way to his office, picked up a man who begged for a ride, claiming he had a bad stomach ache.

When Zhang gave the man, now known as Guan Shiquan, a ride, Guan quickly took away his car key and seven men in uniform dragged Zhang out of his car.

He was then held by his arms and neck and escorted into a van, where he was forced to sign an investigation report accusing him of operating a black taxi and fining him 10,000 yuan.

Zhang paid the fine on Sept 14 to get his car back and filed a lawsuit against the team, requesting the punishment be withdrawn.

On Oct 26, the team withdrew the punishment, admitting they had collected insufficient evidence against Zhang.

On the same day, Sun Zhongjie, from Henan province, who cut off his finger to prove his innocence after being entrapped in a similar scheme, received an apology from the traffic law enforcement team in Pudong district.

"I insisted on suing because other people, who were kind like I was, to offer a lift to someone they believed was in need of help, were entrapped like me. Many of them filed lawsuits and all of them lost," Zhang said before the hearing. "If I win my suit, they might have a chance to have their cases retried," he said.

Zhang said he has been under great pressure during the past two months.

Two weeks ago, Zhang and his wife said they received e-mails trying to blackmail him, urging him to withdraw the case.

During the hearing, which lasted about 50 minutes, Zhang Hui blamed the Minhang enforcement team of working with civilians to entrap innocent drivers and requested Guan Shiquan and the enforcement officials come to testify at the court.

Zhang said he hopes such things will never happen again and that Shanghai will become a city without "baits", a name that refers to civilian assistants used by the enforcement teams to ensnare drivers.

But the team denied any connection with Guan Shiquan.

Zhu Shunmin, an attorney for the Minhang enforcement team, said Guan stopped Zhang on his own, in order to be rewarded for assisting law enforcement officers. In Shanghai, district traffic law enforcement teams offer from 200 to 600 yuan for tips on illegal cabs.

Zhu rejected Zhang's appeal to bring Guan Shiquan and the involved law enforcement officials to court.

"The team withdrew the punishment on Oct 26. Hence there is no need to prove it is illegal," he told the court, who supported the rejection.

At 3 pm the court announced the verdict, in favor of Zhang.

Zhang said he was mostly satisfied with the result.

"But it is a pity that they deny any connection with Guan Shiquan and they believe the brutal law enforcement is legal," he said.

Outside the court, people who have been punished as illegal taxi drivers gathered to demand their fine or car back.

Shanghai started a crackdown on illegal taxis in 2000. The traffic enforcement teams seize about 50,000 illegal taxis every year and fine them an average of 10,000 yuan.

According to Beijing Morning Post, Shanghai has about 1,000 people working as "baits" to entrap drivers.

Yesterday, Xicheng district court in Beijing accepted a case in which three residents sued a local traffic law enforcement team for entrapping them.