Report in Global Times, June 23, 2017
A higher court in East China’s Shandong Province on Friday morning sentenced the defendant to five years in prison at the second trial for a high profile case in which a son stabbed and killed a violent debt collector while defending his mother.
The Shandong Provincial Higher People’s Court sentenced Yu Huan, the defendant, to five years in prison for the crime of intentional injury caused by excessive force in defense, according to the Shandong Provincial Higher People’s Court on its official Sina Weibo account.
Yu’s sentence was reduced from the first trial of life imprisonment given he “excessively defended” himself after the debt collectors beat Yu and his mother and one of the debt collectors exposed himself to his mother to threaten her into paying a debt, the court said.
Yu’s action can be defined as “justifiable defense,” and thus Yu can be subject to a lighter punishment, the court said.
The verdict of the first trial in 2016 was also withdrawn in the second trial and this verdict on Friday shall be final, said the Shandong Provincial Higher People’s Court.
The defendant Yu was sentenced to life imprisonment on February 17, 2017 by the Intermediate People’s Court of Liaocheng City in Shandong, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Yu and the three plaintiffs appealed after the trial.
The Shandong Provincial Higher People’s Court accepted the appeal on March 24, 2017.
On April 14, 2016, more than 10 people went to Su Yinxia’s company in Guanxian County in Shandong to collect payment for loan sharks, allegedly insulting Su and her son Yu Huan.
Police arrived at the scene but Yu later stabbed four of the debt collectors including Du Zhihao, who died the morning after.
The case sparked heated debate after details surfaced that one debt collector thrust his exposed penis at Yu’s mother and the public has debated heatedly about whether the punishment was too harsh for the desperate young man and whether his action can be deemed as “justifiable defense.”
The case was mired in more controversies after media revealed that local police were called to the scene shortly before the tragedy but stopped short of intervening. It was also revealed that the mother may have been involved in illegal fundraising.
In a statement issued on March 26, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate pledged to review the case to determine whether Yu was acting in self-defense and investigate possible dereliction of duty by police officers involved.
The retrial mainly focused on the reason for the appeal, the facts ascertained in the first trial, and some new evidence from forensic investigations. The mother, Su Yinxia, served as a witness in court. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1053150.shtml
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