In a dramatic twist, one of the main defendants in China's football gambling scandal has withdrawn his testimony at his trial on Tuesday, claiming he was tortured, Shanghai-based TV station HiSports reported.

Xie Yalong, the former head of the China Football Association (CFA), was charged with taking bribes worth 1.72 million yuan ($273,000) in a trial in the city of Dandong in the northeastern province of Liaoning this morning.

He then suddenly accused investigators of torturing and threatening him to secure his testimony during interrogation, HiSports said in a live broadcast.

Dozens of officials from the CFA and football clubs and referees are being tried for their roles in a match-fixing and gambling scandal 2 years ago.

The scandal, which has rocked the country by lifting the lid on the deep-rooted corruption in Chinese football, now may have reached another climax by exposing the dark side of China’s judicial system. 

Xie said he was beaten, prevented from sleep and had freezing water poured on his naked body, and also claimed his wife was arrested to threaten him, HiSports said.

Xie denies most of the charges against him.

His lawyer Jin Xiaoguang told a TV reporter Xie only pled guilty as he feared for his life.
Tuesday’s episode has triggered debate about the country’s judicial system.

"Xie Yayong is guilty and should be responsible for impoverishing Chinese football. It is fine to accuse him in the name of anti-corruption. But the special investigation group that took extreme measures against Xie, which led him to overturn his words publicly [is wrong]," Ma Yong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, said on his microblog.

"This should be an alarm to promote judicial independence... Otherwise, anyone without bureau head titles could face the same miserable experience as Xie did," Ma said.

A court in February sentenced two top former CFA officials, Yang Yimin and Zhang Jiangqiang, to more than a decade in jail each, state media said.

Yang, the CFA’s ex-deputy chief, was convicted of accepting bribes worth 1.25 million yuan and Zhang, the former director of the association’s referee committee, accepted 2.73 million yuan, the reports said.