Two police officers in a detention center in Rushan City of east China's Shandong Province, have been suspended from work after an inmate in the center was found dead with "needle injuries," local authorities said Sunday.

The Public Security Bureau in Weihai, which has the jurisdiction over Rushan, confirmed that head of the detention center and a policemen on duty who were responsible for the incident have been suspended from their post and are under investigation.

The detainee identified as Yu Weiping was found dead by other inmates in November 13, 2009. An autopsy report by the State Forensic Medicine Service under the Ministry of Justice later showed that Yu's heart had lethal injuries caused by a needle-like instrument.

An investigation team comprised of officials from the Weihai municipal procuratorate and anti-misprision authorities have spent months in the death probe without a conclusion.

Wang Peiting, party chief of Weihai, on Saturday urged the legal authorities to investigate the case in an open and justic manner.

Experts from the Shandong provincial public security bureau will join the death probe.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2010)