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BEIJING - The former governor of a Chinese province which earlier this year was shaken by a slave labour scandal on Saturday defended his handling of the case and the relatively light punishments meted out to officials in its wake.
Police rescued more than 1300 people, including children and mentally handicapped, who were forced to work in appalling conditions at brick kilns in the poor northern province of Shanxi.
Though life and even death sentences were given to some kiln owners, managers and guards, only 95 Communist Party officials were punished, some of them simply getting dressing downs from their higher ups.
But Yu Youjun, then-Shanxi governor and now Communist Party chief of the Culture Ministry, said the punishments had been proportional and unprecedented.
"The Shanxi province Communist Party and government were conscientious and responsible in handling this case and officials who neglected their jobs and were derelict in their duties," Yu said.
"The punishment that we gave officials were appropriate ones that were handed out according to their faults and responsibilities," he told a news conference on the sidelines of a Communist Party Congress.
"It should be said that the number of officials dealt with, and the stern handling by the Party and government, have never been seen before on such a scale in Shanxi's history," added Yu.
Two mayors of cities in the south of the province also had to make "public self-criticisms", he said, without providing details.
Just eight of the 95 officials were expelled from the Party and lost their jobs, Yu added.
The victims were forced to work in scorching kilns with no protective clothing, enduring confinement and beatings and kept at bay by dogs as owners tried to maximise production and meet demand from a booming construction industry.
The scandal only came to light after more than 400 parents posted an online petition and turned to reporters for help to find their missing children, many of whom were kidnapped or cheated to be sold to the kilns.
- REUTERS
