Chinese man faces prosecution for unwanted hug after 28 years

Oct 14, 2011, 10:27 GMT

Beijing - Chinese police said Friday that they planned to continue a case against a man they arrested for hooliganism 28 years after he gave an unwanted hug to a colleague to whom he is now married.

'We are only following the law,' Ou Zhezhong, director of police in Wanning on southern China's Hainan island, told dpa.

The offence of hooliganism, which carried a possible death sentence, was abolished in 1997, but this has not ended the case.

'The police are discussing the case with the prosecutor and the court to see what he did 28 years ago and what the offence would be according to current law,' the police director said.

After the hug incident, Chen Zonghao fled to his native province of Guangdong. His victim travelled more than 1,000 kilometres after him and later married him.

The couple now have three children and run a wholesalers.

Chen is currently locked in a cell in a Wanning prison.

The newspaper Nanfang Dushibao described his October 3 arrest as a 'successful example' of a campaign to clear up old cases that is due to run until the end of the year.