The government should pay attention to the questions raised by netizens and find evidence to prove the rumors about a convict swap wrong, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpt:

Netizens have discovered the photographs of Hu Bin taken in court while he faced a trail for running over a pedestrian in Hangzhou and those shot outside were different. It made many of them assume that a dummy for Hu Bin had been used in court. They even claim to have found his name: Zhang Lica, a taxi driver.

The local court in Hangzhou has adopted a quick and pro-active attitude toward the doubters questioning the identity of the defendant, and denying the charge.

But the public doubt doesn't seem to have emerged out of nothing. So the law-enforcers should prove their innocence instead of scorning at and rebuking the public.

Netizens have their own reasons to doubt the identity of Hu Bin. For example, some doubted that he had been swapped by a dummy at the beginning of the trial. "Hu Bin" in the dock looks more like the chubby Zhang Lica in the courtroom pictures. Earlier photographs of Hu Bin's show he has a skinny face.

The court attributed the change in Hu Bin's profile to the "good food" served in the detention center. That explanation is far from convincing, except that some other factors made Hu Bin put on weight in the detention center, which is almost impossible for most people.

In fact, it's not difficult to ask the questions raised by the netizens. We have to find some experts to technically compare the pictures and tell the public about the findings. We have to find whether Zhang was really used as dummy, too. And if Zhang is out there somewhere, let him show up before the public.

(China Daily August 4, 2009)