Ni Lingmei (倪玲妹), vice mayor in Huzhou, climbed onto the windowsill of her flat’s bathroom herself during the small hours of May 2 and fell from there, Huzhou police concludes in its investigation report published yesterday afternoon local time. The report states family conflicts and out-of-control emotions as causes for her death. Huzhou police conducted its investigation in accordance with Huzhou city and Zhejiang provincial leaders’ instructions that the cause of Mrs Ni’s death should be investigated as quickly as possible, and that the aftermath should be dealt with properly, writes Xinhua. A fierce quarrel between Mrs Ni and her husband, and several phone calls from their son in Canada urging his parents to calm down had preceded her fall.
Mrs Ni’s husband heads Huzhou City’s local procurators office’s political department, according to a cnhubei.com report, quoted by Netease on May 4. Wikipedia describes the procuratorate (检察院) on the national level in an incomplete article here. Combatting bribery and corruption, and ensuring discipline within the ranks of the authorities are central tasks of the local and central procurators offices.
After questioning friends and relatives both from Mrs Ni’s and her husband’s side, police established that the couple had been on bad terms for a long time, and that lately, because of differences concerning the costs of hospital treatment for Mrs Ni’s mother, the conflict had deteriorated further. Huzhou police also reported that inquiries to the City Disciplinary Commission had not revealed any violations of law or discipline by vice mayor Ni Lingmei.
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Related: Huzhou’s Vice Mayor Dies after Fall from Building, May 2
