A Chinese man has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for torturing Indigenous mineworkers in Rwanda after a video which showed him whipping a man tied to a post went viral on social media.
Sun Shujun, the manager of a mine in west Rwanda, was recently jailed with an accomplice after he was arrested last September.
Judge Jacques Kanyarukiga ruled that “It is clear that (Sun) tortured the victims and issued corporal punishment with malicious intent, and this is a grave crime” and ordered him to serve a 20-year term in prison.
Sun, who was present in court for the verdict, admitted that he assaulted two workers. He said he beat them because he was “frustrated and fed up of them constantly stealing minerals”.
He had argued for his release by saying he compensated the two by paying them over one million Rwandan francs ($1,000) and signing a “reconciliation letter”.
Meanwhile, the prosecution – which had accused him of assaulting four people – argued that the victims accepted the payments “because they were traumatised and afraid of him”.
Another Manager of the company, Ali Group Holding Ltd, was found guilty of supporting Sun and was sentenced to 12 years in jail. The third defendant was found not guilty.
A 45-second clip of one incident showing a visibly enraged Chinese man using a rope to flog a man huddled on the ground and tied to a pole, as some people in orange jackets watched on was shared on Twitter last September.
The mine manufactures cassiterite, the main ore of tin.
After the judgement was delivered by the court in the district of Rutsiro, Sun (who was been free on bail) was handcuffed and whisked away by guards. He has up to 30 days to file an appeal.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Rwanda said that it had “taken note” of the ruling.
The statement read: “The embassy always asks Chinese citizens in Rwanda to abide by local laws and regulations.
“The embassy calls for the case to be handled appropriately in a rational, fair and just manner, and requests the legitimate rights of Chinese citizens to be properly protected.”
