Tan Qindong

Guangdong-based doctor Tan Qindong is reportedly out on bail after the procuratorate cited lack of evidence and returned the case to the public security department for further investigation.

"It's a victory of justice," Deng Liqiang, director of the legal department of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA), told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Tan wrote an article in December 2017, saying "Hongmao medicinal liquor is poison." The public security bureau of Liangcheng county in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region had detained him since January 2018, where the medicinal liquor company is based, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Sunday.

Tan is out of the detention house, Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday, citing Hu Dingfeng, Tan's attorney.

He likewise met officers from the local procuratorate and public security department of Inner Mongolia, who said they would review the case.

"The facts of the case are not clear, evidence is lacking," according to a notice released by the local procuratorate in Inner Mongolia on Tuesday afternoon on its Wechat account. "The case will be sent back to the security department for supplementary investigation and the current criminal compulsory measures should be changed."

Tan's lawyer received the notice and was allowed to take Tan out Tuesday afternoon after he met Tan in the morning on the same day, Deng said.

The Ministry of Public Security has started a supervision system over the inspection work of Inner Mongolia's security department, according to a notice released by the ministry on Tuesday.

The State drug administration has formed a team to determine whether the category of Hongmao medicinal liquor should be changed from non-prescription to prescription medicine, an administration spokesperson told a press conference on Monday.

A total of 137 cases of untoward effects after drinking the liquor were reported from 2004 to 2017, according to the spokesperson.

"The company needs to explain the safety and effectiveness of its product to the public," the spokesperson said.