Translation:People v Zhang Wenfang (2020)

Sanhe People’s Court of Hebei, PR China

Criminal Judgement

[2020] Jih 1082 Xing Chu No 263

Prosecution Authority: the People’s Procuratorate of Sanhe (the ‘Prosecution’).

The Defendant, Zhang Wenfang, female, born on 26 July 1980 in Yantai, Shandong, Han Chinese, bachelor’s degree, politically unaffiliated, unemployed, with household registration location in Laishan District, Yantai, Shandong, and resided in the Yanjiao Development Zone of Sanhe before apprehension. On 7 April 2020, the Defendant was administratively detained for ten (10) days by the Sanhe Public Security Bureau for seriously disturbing public order. On 17 April 2020, the Defendant was criminally detained by the Sanhe Public Security Bureau on suspicion of committing the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and was formally arrested on 29 April of the same year. She is now detained in Sanhe Detention Centre.

Defence counsel: Du Yaolong, a lawyer with Hebei Jingtuo Law Firm.

On 14 August 2020, the Prosecution filed the present case with this Court by the Indictment [2020] San Jian Yibu Xingsu No 217 against the Defendant for committing the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. This Court then formed a collegial panel in compliance with the law, applied the ordinary procedure, and held a public hearing of this case. Assigned by the Prosecution, Prosecutor Liang Mingming and Assistant to the Prosecutor Dai Baosen appeared in court on behalf of the People to present the case. The Defendant and her defence counsel appeared before the court to attend the proceedings. The trial of the case has now been concluded.

The Prosecution alleges that, on 4 April 2020, at around one (1) o’clock, during the National Mourning and when the whole nation was profoundly mourning the martyrs who sacrificed themselves in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic as well as our succumbed fellow countrymen, the Defendant, at her residence in the Yanjiao Development Zone of Sanhe, released a lengthy post on her Weibo account named ‘Malilianmengliu’, in which she claimed that one toilet was shared among a thousand individuals in the fangcang hospitals of Wuhan, that some people were starved to death at home during self-isolation, that someone dug their own grave secretively and hanged themself in fear of passing the virus to their families, that some infected with nowhere to be treated committed suicide in fear of passing the virus to their families, that some were penalised by writing 100 times of ‘wear a mask when going out’ by the police station, that someone recovered from serious illness committed suicide by hanging themself on the rooftop of a building after finding their families were all passed away. Part of the aforesaid claims was explicitly refuted to be rumours by official sources, and part of them was false information. The Defendant made these remarks without proper verification, and the Weibo post has been copiously reposted and read, causing a serious and execrable impact on society.

To substantiate the aforesaid charges, the Prosecution proclaimed and presented pertinent evidence in court, including the confession of the Defendant, witness testimony, screenshots of the Weibo post, an explanatory letter, Weibo registration information, and the photos of the instrument of crime and such.

The Prosecution holds that the Defendant fabricated false information and disseminated it on the information network, causing serious public disorder, and thereby shall be held criminally responsible for the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. During the court hearing, the Prosecutor raised that given the Defendant has no criminal record prior to this case, voluntarily pleaded guilty and is willing to accept punishments, the Prosecution, thereby, suggests to this Court that a fixed-term imprisonment of six (6) to eight (8) months be given to her.

The Defendant has no objection to the factual charges, the name of the offence, and the sentencing recommendation, attested with the signed binding declaration on pleading guilty and accepting punishments, and did not contest during the court hearing. Furthermore, the Defendant extended an acknowledgement of wrongdoing in court and pleaded with the Court for a lighter punishment, to wit, a suspended sentence of six (6) months. The defence counsel of the Defendant argues that the Defendant has no previous criminal record, that she is a first-time and occasional offender with a lesser degree of subjective malignancy, that no serious consequences were caused objectively, and that she has voluntarily pleaded guilty and consented to accept punishments. The defence counsel, therefore, suggests to the Court that a fixed-term imprisonment of six (6) months be given to the Defendant, with suspension applied.

The Court, upon trial of the case, ascertains that, on 4 April 2020, at around one (1) o’clock, during the National Mourning and when the whole nation was profoundly mourning the martyrs who sacrificed themselves in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic as well as our succumbed fellow countrymen, the Defendant, at her residence in the Yanjiao Development Zone of Sanhe, released a lengthy post on her Weibo account named ‘Malilianmengliu’, in which she claimed that one toilet was shared among a thousand individuals in the fangcang hospitals of Wuhan, that some people were starved to death at home during self-isolation, that someone dug their own grave secretively and hanged themself in fear of passing the virus to their families, that some infected with nowhere to be treated committed suicide in fear of passing the virus to their families, that someone’s body were only removed until six hours after they committed suicide, that someone had to climb down the outer wall from the ninth floor to buy some meat, that some were penalised by writing 100 times of ‘wear a mask when going out’ by the police station, that someone recovered from serious illness committed suicide by hanging themself on the rooftop of a building after finding their families were all passed away. Part of the aforesaid claims was explicitly refuted to be rumours by official sources, and part of them was false information. The Defendant made these remarks without proper verification, and the Weibo post has been copiously reposted and read, causing a serious and execrable impact on society. It is also ascertained that, on 4 April 2020, at 22:09, the Yanshun Road Police Station of the Sanhe Public Security Bureau received a relayed alert from its superior, wherein an internet user reported that a Weibo user named ‘Malilianmengliu’ had posted a lengthy post that involved rumours relating to the epidemic in Wuhan, and the suspect of which was located at Room 42-1-1003, Shangshangcheng Housing Estate Phase III, Yanjiao Development Zone. Police officers at the Yanshun Road Police Station then swiftly rushed into the aforesaid flat and summoned the individual, Zhang Wenfang, known to be using the Weibo account of ‘Malilianmengliu’, to the aforesaid police station for investigation. On 7 April 2020, the Defendant was administratively detained for ten (10) days for the present case; on 17 April, she was criminally detained on suspicion of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble.

The aforesaid facts are substantiated by evidence that has been subjected to cross-examination and confirmation in court as the confession of the Defendant, an explanatory letter relating to the case of ‘Zhang Wenfang disturbing public order’, photos of Weibo screenshots, contents of the Weibo post released by the Defendant and information on the rebuttal of rumours from official sources, mobile service registration information, Weibo account registration information, ‘Incident Ticket’, ‘Case Registration Form’, ‘Course of Apprehension’, ‘Decision on Administrative Penalty’, ‘Statement of Circumstances on Criminal Record Enquiry’, and ‘Resident Basic Information Form’, and are sufficient to establish.

This Court holds that the Defendant disseminated false information on the information network, of which part was officially rebutted and part was unverified, in which it shall be established that the Defendant was disseminating such information with the full knowledge that it was fake, through which she has caused serious public disorder, and by which her acts have constituted the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. The charges filed by the Prosecution are established, the legal provisions applied are accurate, and therefore, they are supported by this Court.

Given that the Defendant voluntarily pleaded guilty and is willing to accept punishments, a more lenient punishment, therefore, is to be given to her by this Court in compliance with the law. The sentencing recommendation provided by the Prosecution is appropriate and thus is adopted by this Court. The part of the defence opinions raised by the Defendant and her defence counsel, which suggests suspension be applied to the sentence of the Defendant, is not adopted by this Court, while the remaining defence opinions are adopted by this Court.

In summary, this Court, based on the facts, nature, circumstances, and societal harm of the crime committed by the Defendant and her attitude in the guilty plea, and in accordance with Item 4 of Paragraph 1 of Article 293 of The Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, as well as Paragraph 2 of Article 5, Article 45, and Article 47 of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Defamation and Other Such Crimes Involving the Use of Information Networks, hereby rules that:

The Defendant committed the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble and is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of six (6) months.

(The term of imprisonment shall be counted from the date of execution of the judgement. Where the Defendant is detained on remand prior to the execution of the judgement, one day of such detention shall be credited as one day of the sentence, that is, the term of imprisonment begins on 7 April 2020 and ends on 6 October 2020.)

If the Defendant refuses to accept the present judgement as final and binding, a petition for appeal may be submitted through this Court or directly to the Langfang Intermediate People’s Court of Hebei within ten (10) days commencing on the day following the day of receipt of this judgement. In case of a written appeal, one (1) original copy and five (5) duplicated copies of the petition shall be submitted.

Note
There are no such articles of 45 and 47 in that interpretation; therefore, this should be a piece of redundant text that the clerk forgot to remove while using other judgments as a template.