A central China city government has continued to limit the freedom of a farmer illegally confined in a mental asylum since 2003 despite promising to punish the officials responsible for the case.

The publicity department of Yuanhui District in Luohe City of Henan Province on Saturday sent China Youth Daily a written announcement claiming the local government would uncover the truth over the confinement of Xu Lindong and punish officials responsible for the case.

A news report by China Youth Daily on Friday revealed that Xu has been confined in local mental hospitals since October 2003.

He was seized in Beijing in October 2003 by Daliu Township officials after he went there to complain that Daliu officials treated a neighboring family unfairly over a land dispute.

According to the Beijing-based newspaper, an official in Daliu has been suspended from duty pending an investigation into the case.

The district government also promised a transparent investigation and proper treatment of Xu in the future.

Officials in Daliu agreed to set Xu free on Saturday morning but changed their mind hours later.

They forced Xu to take further psychological tests in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to determine whether he is mentally ill.

Chang Boyang, a lawyer based in Zhengzhou City, told the newspaper that the Daliu government has no right to force the tests on Xu.

China Youth Daily's Friday report also said that the township government had denied Xu access to his family for six-and-a-half years.

The government covered Xu's medical expanses with taxpayer money to isolate him from others and deprive his freedom, the report said.

His family didn't learn that he was in a mental hospital until July 2007.

Xu is still in a mental hospital in Luohe.

He told China Youth Daily on April 17 that he was forced to accept all kinds of "treatments," including electric shock therapy.

Xu told the newspaper he had attempted to escape or commit suicide several times.

The farmer was moved from a mental institution in Henan's Zhumadian to one in Luohe last year, the report said.