Fan Qihang (left) and Zhu Mingyong

The torture was so intense that a participating police officer pleaded for a re-assignment and the suspect, a local mafia member Fan Qihang, mutilated his own tongue before trying to kill himself by running head-first into a wall.

Yet Fan never capitulated to police demands that he testify falsely in court and help prosecutors put his lawyer, Zhu Mingyong, behind bars.