Deng Yujiao incident

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The Deng Yujiao Incident ( Chinese :邓玉娇事件; Pinyin : Deng Yujiao Shijian,) took place on 10 May 2009 at a hotel in the district of Badong , Province of Hubei in the People's Republic of China . Deng Yujiao, a 21-year-old podiatrist , tried to fend off advances from Deng Guida (no relative), the director of the community's local economic development department , who had come to the hotel to request "special services." She is said to have stabbed her attacker several times when she tried to fend off him, which resulted in his death. Badong County police arrested Deng Yujiao, charged her with murder, and refused to give her bail .

Deng's case became known nationally through internet forums and chat rooms . Internet users of these forums are said to have been angry about their treatment by the authorities. The case resonated with general anger over the corruption and immorality of officials and garnered over four million forum posts across the country. The Chinese authorities tried to downplay the incident by censoring the case's presence on Chinese web portals . After the flurry of public protests and online petitions , prosecutors dropped Deng Yujiao's murder charges, granted her bail, and charged her with a lesser offense of "willful assault." She was found guilty but received no sentence due to her state of mind. The two surviving officers involved in the incident were fired, allegedly in response to public pressure.

The incident

Deng Yujiao, born in 1988 in Mulongya Village, Badong County, was a podiatrist at the bathing center of Dream City (梦幻 城) in Hotel Xiongfeng (雄风 宾馆) when the incident happened.

Deng Guida was the director of the community's economic development department. He, deputy Huang Dezhi, and another officer arrived at the hotel where Deng Yujiao was working on May 10, 2009. They are said to have asked Deng Yujiao for "special services" (a euphemistic expression commonly understood as sexual services in China). She did not follow the request. Deng Guida allegedly pulled out a stack of banknotes and hit her in the face with them. Then he is said to have pushed Deng Yujiao onto a sofa and lay down on her. At that moment, in self-defense , Deng Yujiao stabbed her attacker four times with a small seven and a half centimeter knife. One of the stitches landed in the neck of her attacker, causing him to bleed to death at the scene. His deputy also suffered stings. The police, apparently finding pills in her bag, said Deng Yujiao may have suffered from acute depression and took her to a mental hospital for evaluation on May 12th . During Deng's days in the hospital, she was handcuffed to a bed in what the police called a "protective measure".

Two lawyers from Beijing , Xia Lin and Xia Nan, took her case pro bono . On May 25th, 2009, they filed an official complaint against one of the attackers, Huang Dezhi, at the Badong Police Station. Details of the complaint as follows:

  • Huang Dezhi tried to force (attempted rape) off her jeans and underwear.
  • Deng Guida slapped her face with a wad of cash while yelling, “Don't you want any money? I bet you've never seen money before. How much money do you want, just say it, believe me or not, I'll kill you with money. "Deng Yujiao replied," Yes, I've never seen money. If you have the courage, kill me today. "Deng Guida then replied," I will beat you to death with money. I'm going to get a truckload of money to crush you to death. "
  • After stabbing the two men (Deng Guida and Huang Dezhi), Deng Yujiao put down the knife and called the local police and their mother.

Interview of the police chief

On May 22, 2009, Yang Liyong was interviewed by the Southern Metropolis Daily and presented the official police version of the incident.

1. Deng Yujiao is a service employee at KTV.

2. They have been asked for a “bath service between two sexes”. When asked by a reporter, "Why was Deng Guida's request for a“ special service ”turned into a bathing service?", Yang replied, (About the special service) “Maybe a lot of people understand it as a sexual service, a sex trade, but in this case , the trade was not carried out. We have no choice, we can only call it a bathing service between two sexes. "

3. Quoted: “The Public Security Bureau believes she is suspected of having committed premeditated murder based on two direct pieces of evidence. First, death was caused. Second, Deng Guida suffered two fatal stab wounds that we thought were quite severe. "

4th quote: “Our investigation into this case concerns a very common death. But the public and the media insist on turning it into tragedy . "

National symbol

After Deng Yujiao surrendered to the police, she was initially charged with murder. Deng claimed she was acting in self-defense when the officer tried to rape her. The blogger Wu Gan wrote about her case in his blog. A professor from Berkeley commented to the New York Times , instead of collecting hundreds of thousands of mentions in Internet blogs and other forums accumulated Deng's case, more than four million articles in websites. Deng's plight touched millions of Chinese people who had had enough of corruption, as well as "rampant social injustice and the lack of basic respect in society," said a Beijing lawyer. Deng was hailed as a national heroine for resisting the official abuse of power . Their supporters, demanding a fair trial, brought their protest to Beijing. Her visual number was a woman with a mask and wrapped in a white cloth. A sign reading "Anyone could be Deng Yujiao" was placed on the floor around them. The photos immediately appeared on the Internet.

Chinese bloggers showed their solidarity with Deng Yujiao by posting free t-shirts online with popular slogans such as:

  • 江山 如此 多 娇！ Translation: The rivers and mountains are so enchanting and beautiful. This is a poem by Mao Tsetung , the last Chinese writing is 嬌 (Jiao), also the name of Deng Yujiao.
  • 巴东 玉娇 龙 ， 华夏 女 英雄！ Translation: Badong Yu Jiao-long, Huaxia heroine. Yu Jiao-long is a famous movie character in which Yu Jiao is also the name of Deng Yujiao.
  • 中国 烈女 ， 公民 楷模！ Translation: Heroic woman, civic role model.
  • 抗暴 无罪！ Translation: It is not a sin to resist violence.

Letters describing Deng Yujiao as a heroine were reportedly published. Demonstrations were carried out with slogans such as: "Shame and abuse the Badong police" or "Punish the rapists harshly, clear Deng Yujiao".

As a result of the national outcry, the police released her on bail and placed her under house arrest. Prosecutors have charged her with " willful assault " instead of murder. The two surviving officers were released on May 31. Xinhua reported that the Communist Party Inquiry Committee on Discipline in Badong County removed Huang Dezhi from the post of deputy director of the Yesanguan Township Business Delegation Bureau and removed his membership of the Chinese Communist Party . The reason was because "on May 10th, at a bathhouse in Badong, he pushed, pushed and insulted a waitress who refused to accompany him to a bath," the authorities said. Huang was "detained in connection with administrative offenses." Deng Zhongjia, another deputy director from the same office, who was present at the time of the incident, was also fired. Allegedly because the incident had "poor social impact" despite not breaking any laws or regulations.

Censorship and official interference

Badong police said an officer was killed in an argument with Deng Yujiao. Her May 13 statement said Deng Guida pushed the girl twice on a sofa and was killed with a pedicure knife. Five days later, police said the murder weapon was a fruit knife .

Meng Jianzhu, Minister of the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China, reportedly gave the following instructions to his deputy:

I hope that our police colleagues will react more quickly when dealing with such questions next time. These internet bloggers don't talk sensibly, so we won't talk to them. The suspects and the evidence are in our hands. There is no need to watch public opinion so closely and handle the case as the Internet users want. We should arrest those who need to be arrested and execute those who need to be executed. The Shanghai authorities executed Yang Jia; were there any problems? They had the support of the central government. If they hadn't executed Yang Jia, who would dare to work as a police officer in the future?

Deng Yujiao's mother reportedly received a phone call from the police saying that she washed most of her daughter's clothes and removed any evidence . The police said on May 23 that they had hired two lawyers from Hubei to replace the initial lawyers who allegedly violated Deng Yujiao's privacy .

On May 22nd, Beijing's censorship monitors ordered websites to stop reporting on Deng's case. The State Council Information Office issued instructions to all Chinese websites to remove all recommended messages and comments about Deng Yujiao. No posts about Deng Yujiao should be published at the top of the page. The information bureau later called Beijing portals and instructed them to only use official government statements and not to report or comment on Deng Yujiao. The State Information Bureau ordered the media and web portals to water down the Deng Yujiao case with other news items, remove all open letters and defenses, and ban any web-based opinion polls or petitions .

The television and internet were officially turned off in Yesanguan as a precaution against lightning strikes. The Internet drew the attention of Chinese journalists to Badong County. But after censorship was imposed, local officials began investigating outsiders. Some journalists who tried to report there were beaten. Wu Gan's blog, which published Deng's case, has been closed by censorship authorities.

Court hearing

According to media reports, Deng Yujiao's murder charge was changed to premeditated assault, likely due to massive public pressure from internet users who hailed her as a heroine. At her June 16 trial, a judge said the court found her guilty of using excessive force in Deng despite acting in self-defense. The mild sentence was due to reduced responsibility and because it had surrendered to the police and because the officers involved had made a serious mistake. A Beijing human rights attorney said the court would not have released Deng if it hadn't been for so much pressure from so much national attention. The Standard newspaper reported that websites in the mainland were euphoric after the trial .

Human rights defenders reported, after Deng's case rattled the Chinese public, that women's groups demanded fair treatment for Deng Yujiao. However, her verdict is anything but fair and just, because according to Article 20, paragraph 3 of the criminal law of the People's Republic of China, Deng should not have been found guilty because she had defended herself.

If a person is acting against ongoing assault, murder, robbery , rape , kidnapping, or any other violent crime that seriously jeopardizes his or her personal safety and thereby inflicts injury or death on the perpetrator of the wronging, this is not an illegal defense, and they will not have to bear any criminal responsibility.

Deng Yujiao has been released. Although found guilty, it was a triumph of justice but not a triumph of the rule of law , according to human rights defenders. The reality is that the judicial system has been manipulated by political and social forces, which is said to have led to the separation between legality and rationality . The verdict is said to have been a political solution, a cynical attempt to save face of authority and defuse public anger.

Acquitted and disappeared

Two days after Deng Yujiao left the court, she disappeared. Her mother told The Epoch Times and NTDTV that she did not know where her daughter was. On June 18, Wu Gan was reported to have called Deng's mother, suspecting that she was being monitored and should not receive any phone calls. Wu believed she had read given texts to him and asked him not to call again. Wu's attorney and member of the Chinese Legal Society, Si Ning, released the interview.

In a blog, Si Ning questioned whether Deng Yujiao had really been given freedom. The so-called release of Deng Yujiao was a lie, he said. Deng's mother reportedly said on the phone that local authorities had taken her daughter for so-called medical treatment.

Badong government agencies reportedly forced Deng to sign a statement and asked the media not to report on her release. She is said to be secretly held so that she cannot appeal her conviction. Deng's lawyers Wang Shaopeng and Deng Gang reportedly received threats not to appeal for their client's release.

See also

Web links

Chinese links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b A stab at reform , The Economist, June 4, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  2. ↑ a b c Tania Branigan, Chinese woman who killed official bailed after online outcry , The Guardian, May 27, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  3. ↑ a b Jutta Lietsch, By Functionary Murder as a People's Heroine, China's Great Wave of Solidarity, TAZ.de, May 29, 2009, accessed on September 13, 2017
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Clifford Coonan, China captivated by tale of a young waitress who fought back , The Irish Times, May 29, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  5. ↑ a b c d e Andy Ho-Kei Yee, Civil Society in China: A Discussion Illuminated by the Case of Deng Yujiao , Human Rights Defense, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  6. ↑ a b c d e Michael Wines, Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online , The New York Times, June 16, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  7. ^ A b c d e Raymond Li, Web of support , South China Morning Post. 10 June 2009, p. A11, 'Behind the News'. accessed on September 13, 2017
  8. ↑ a b c d Jerran Lin, Patsy Moy, Heroic killer walks free , The Standard, June 17, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  9. ↑ a b c d e Jerran Lin, Cops take slap at heroine , The Standard, June 2, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  10. ↑ Deng Yujiao Released After Stabbing Official , Epoch Times, June 17, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Mark Siemons, Die Frau mit dem Messer , Frankfurter Allgemeine, June 17, 2009, accessed on September 13, 2017
  12. ↑ Jane Macartney, Chinese outraged over pedicurist who stabbed lecherous official , The Sunday Times, May 27, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  13. ↑ a b c Peter Foster, Chinese waitress freed after stabbing official to death during sex assault , The Telegraph, June 16, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  14. ↑ Raymond Li, Waitress who fatally stabbed official has mental disorder , report says, South China Morning Post, June 16, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  15. ↑ a b c d e f Deng Yujiao Tells Her Story , An account presented by lawyer Xia Lin, who interviewed Deng Yujiao in person, Southern Metropolis Daily, EeastSouthWestNorth, May 26, 2009, accessed on September 13, 2017
  16. ↑ Bob Chan, China: Netizens stand with the waitress who killed an official , Global Voices, May 17, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  17. ↑ Sophie Beach, Deng Yujiao Tells Her Story; Protesters Express Support , ESWN translates a Southern Metropolis Daily article in which Deng Yujiao tells what took place on the night she stabbed a local official who attempted to rape her, China Digital Times, May 25, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  18. ↑ a b Wu Gan, Tag Archives: Deng Yujiao, By Yaqiu Wang, China Change , July 22, 2015, accessed September 13, 2017
  19. ↑ a b c d Outcome of Deng Yujiao Case Encourages Some , Alarms Others, Dui Hua, Advancing Rights through Dialoque, August 29, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  20. ↑ China Scholars Want the Truth About Deng Yujiao , NTDTV, May 27, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  21. ↑ Rachel Beitarie, China's Other Billion: A Million Deng Yujiaos , China Digital Times, October 28, 2010, accessed September 13, 2017
  22. ↑ Raymond Li, Mixed opinions on Deng Yujiao verdict , South China Morning Post, June 17, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  23. ↑ a b Deng Yujiao Case Update , NTDTV, June 17, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  24. ↑ Chinese officials sacked in probe into "self-defense" killing by waitress , China View, May 31, 2009, accessed on September 13, 2017
  25. ↑ 夏 霖 律师 痛哭 的 照片, 中华网 论坛 , (Xia Lin lawyer crying photos), CDC Forum, May 21, 2009, (Chinese), accessed September 13, 2017
  26. ↑ 公安部 领导 拍板 ， 邓玉娇 被 正式 逮捕 (original: 这样 的 事 ， 希望 我们 公安 部门 今后 反应 快 一点 ， 网民 不 不 讲理 ， 我们 就不 和 他们 他们 讲理 ， 人 在 我们 手里 ， 证据 在 我们 手里 ， 大家不用 看 互联网 民意 办案。 该 抓 就 抓 ， 该杀 就 杀。 上海 杀 了 杨佳 ， 有 什么 问题？ 中央 很 支持 ， 不 杀 ， 今后 谁还 敢当 公安？ Leader of the Ministry of Public Security, Deng Yujiao formally arrested ), Boxun.com, May 19, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  27. ↑ China Scholars Want the Truth About Deng Yujiao , NTD Television, May 25, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  28. ↑ a b c d e China: Acquitted CCP Official-Murdering-Waitress Disappears , Epoch Times, June 25, 2009, accessed September 13, 2017
  29. ↑ a b Deng Yujiao acquitted but now gone , NTDTV, July 5, 2009, accessed on September 13, 2017