The chengguan are a secondarysecurityforceemployedto take pressure off the police by enforcing regulations, but are widelyfeared for theirheavy-handedness.
Besides accusations of heavy-handedness and abuse of preventive detention, critics accuse Mr Bruguiere and his colleagues of not giving defendants a fair chance.
All this may work for a bit, but thrifty German consumers will not be kept away from bargain telephony for ever, and heavy-handedness stokes public hostility to the company.