简体中文
A Chinese doctor was detained by police for more than three months after posting an article online calling a popular Chinese medicinal liquor “poison.”
The case, which aroused public concern over the abuse of power by the public security bureau and the product’s exaggerated advertising, has been handed to the local prosecution organ for further investigation.
The doctor certificate of Tan Qindong.
Tan Qindong, a doctor based in south China’s Guangdong Province, wrote an article titled “Hongmao medicinal liquor, a poison from heaven” in December 2017, questioning the therapeutic effect of the liquor produced by Hongmao Pharmaceuticals.
The 39-year-old physician was arrested by trans-provincial police from Liangcheng County in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Jan. 10, where the liquor company is based.
Liangcheng public security bureau made a statement on Sunday.
Liangcheng public security bureau made a statement on Sunday, claiming that they have enough evidence to demonstrate that Tan’s widely shared article has caused damage to the business reputation of the brand and its product.
According to the statement, Hongmao Pharmaceuticals reported the case to the police, saying that Tan has maliciously discredited its product by calling it “poison.”
The company added that the article’s “false” information has led to over 1.4 million yuan (222,775 US dollars) in refunds as two companies and seven individuals returned the goods, Shanghai-based media The Paper reports.
Police's arrest notice to Tan's wife.
Tan was arrested at his residential building in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, on January 10.
However, one of the company’s staff members has denied Hongmao Pharmaceuticals’ claim. The staff, based in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, told The Paper that she never heard about the demand of returning the medicinal liquor.
The staff insisted that their company still have business dealings with Hongmao Pharmaceuticals, and recently sold the medicinal liquor, which was worth over 1 million yuan.
Tan's article, had over 2,000 clicks by Jan. 16, according to Hongxing News. Tan’s wife changed the article's status to private after her husband was detained.
The articles posted on WeChat that Tan referred can still be searched and read.
But the articles that Tan referred to can still be searched and read online. The original articles posted on WeChat have gotten more than tens of thousands of clicks.
In the article, he questioned how Hongmao Pharmaceuticals draws the conclusion that drinking its product can help cure a series of diseases. His attorney, Guangdong-based lawyer Hu Dingfeng, told HongXing News that Tan should not be treated according to criminal standards, although his uses of “poison” is not appropriate.
In fact, the controversy over advertisements of the Hongmao medicinal liquor have been documented in the past 10 years. The advertisements were reported as illegal by 25 provincial and municipal food and drug bureaus at least 2,630 times, and were suspended from sales dozens of times, according to Health Times.
The article wrote by Tan.
Hongmao Pharmaceuticals’s official website claimed that its business started in 1739 during the Qing Dynasty. Its medicinal liquor is on sale in more than 100,000 pharmacies across China.
Attorney Hu told The Paper that he will defend Tan and prove his innocence.
Deng Liqiang, the Chinese Medical Doctor Association’s (CMDA) director of legal affairs, told The Paper that CMDA will keep an eye on Tan's case and would like to offer legal aid to him.
(CGTN)
