Pat Dollard

Tweet

“Our methods are tough, but do not include torture”

Sky News:

Police are investigating after Deng Senshan was found with numerous injuries over his body.

They have arrested four trainers from the camp, which attempts to cure youngsters of their web addiction by forcing them to replace hours in front of the computer with gruelling military-style drills.

The boy’s father Deng Fei told how he paid 7,000 yuan (£600) to send his son to Guangxi Qihang Survival Training Camp for a month.

He said his son was put in solitary confinement within hours of his arrival and was then beaten to death by staff after they “scolded” him for running too slowly.

“My son was very healthy and was not a criminal. He just had an internet addiction when I left him at the camp,” he told the Global News.

“The police informed us that our child had died. We can’t believe our only son was beaten to death.”

The teenager was declared dead after arriving at hospital in Wuxu town.

“Our methods are tough but do not include torture or other methods that might damage a child’s health”

- Boot camp’s mission statement

The boy’s medical record, faxed to the Global Times, said: “The boy showed no response to emergency treatment.

“He arrived with a very weak heartbeat and could not breathe. He was exhausted after being beaten.

“We were unable to save him.”

Bosses at the camp denied the youth had been attacked and told his father he was sent to hospital because of a serious fever, the paper added.
“I was told the truth by my relative who is in the local police force,” Deng said.

After arriving at the funeral directors to identify his son’s body, he saw “blood all over his face” and “wounds on his wrists from where he had been restrained by handcuffs”.

Police at the Jiangnan branch of Nanning Public Security Bureau said: “We are investigating a case where a high school student was beaten to death by his camp supervisors.

“The case is still under investigation.”

The camp’s mission statement said it cures internet addiction by “close management with training teachers”.

“Our methods are tough but do not include torture or other methods that might damage a child’s health,” it goes on.

China has the world’s largest internet population, with almost 300 million users, and there are more than 200 organisations offering treatment for web addiction.

Only last month, the nation banned electro-shock therapy as a treatment for the problem.