Police in SW China sued over misnaming bomb suspect

Police in a southwest China county are being sued for naming an innocent person as a suspect in a deadly explosion that also killed him.

The family of Zhao Dengyong on Wednesday brought the lawsuit against the public security office of Qiaojia County, Yunnan Province, to court, seeking a public apology and compensation of 2 million yuan (314,961 U.S. dollars), the family's lawyer Lan He said.

Police named Zhao, 26, a suspect in the May 10 bombing that killed four people and injured 16 others in a town in Qiaojia. As doubts surfaced, police corrected its allegation three months later and said Zhao was not involved in the planning of the explosion. Instead, he was a victim killed in the blast.

Police officials in Zhaotong City, which has jurisdiction over Qiaojia, in August said the misjudgment was made before police carefully investigated the case and it had caused a negative impact on Zhao's family.

The family allege that the police's mistake stirred up "enormous controversy" against the family from neighbors and friends.

Qiaojia police have not responded to the lawsuit in public.