The case had been going on for some four years, the actual incident taking place in May 2009. Steadfast, the judges rejected an appeal in 2011, and Xia had little else to do but to sit and wait on death row. The execution was scheduled for Wednesday of this week. The moment news leaked online, the Chinese Propaganda Department was quick to issue a directive to media outlets, instructing them not to "comment, link, exaggerate, or speculate" about the case, since the sentencing review was already complete. Chinese netizens went into overdrive, the general feeling of anger directed towards the chengguan that had taken it upon themselves to pail the living shit out of him in front of six witnesses who confirmed Xia's story, only adding fuel to the fire.
Drawing the ire of the Weibo community, bloggers immediately drew comparisons between the case of Gu Kailai, Bo Xilai's wife who was given a 2 year suspended death sentence of the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Xia was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and was duly execute for his crime, Gu, on the other hand, confessed to murdering Heywood, and was given a suspended death sentence. The idea that your sentence can be determined by your social standing in China's political circles quite understandably didn't sit too well with the masses.
Xia had always maintained that he stabbed the chengguan in self defense, and his wife claims that the beatdown was carried out because Xia didn't pay the 500rmb protection money that was demanded from all the street vendors on the same patch. The ten men that administered the beating weren't allowed to testify in court, which meant that pretty much all the evidence came from the prosecution's side.
Going through the statements that the chengguan made, it's no surprise that the chengguan involved in the attack were banned from making an appearance on the witness stand. One of them claimed that Xia had stabbed him in the thighs, but then said that he had to run after Xia to catch him. A month later, the same man changed his story and said that he hadn't actually been stabbed, and had been stood behind the two unfortunates that Xia ended up stabbing to death. That the chengguan involved didn't appear in court was key to the trial. A number of procedural failings ensued, starting with the illegal detention of Xia, and an beating that he received whilst in custody. Teng Biao, Xia's lawyer wrote in a Boxun blog entry:
According to several statements given by Xia Junfeng, the bald Chengguan first insulted him by saying, "How can you be so fucking good at pretending to be innocent." He then punched him on his head with his fists. He and another man punched and kicked Xia Junfeng, the bald man evening throwing a metal mug at Xia that he had picked up from a desk. It is obvious that Shen Kai and Zhang Xudong had committed more than just the offence of illegal detention; their behaviour at that time fell into the category of statutory aggravation, as it involved physical and verbal abuses.
Since the defence lawyers weren't able to question any of these men in court, Xia's statements are all that were presented.
Shenyang People’s Court doesn’t have the best repuation for justice. Teng Biao, the same lawyer who represented Xia during his trial was assaulted inside the court by their resident bulldog, Er Liang. Nicknamed The Gatekeper, he main role was to prevent petitioners from entering the building. During his stay in Shenyang in 2010, Australian Chris Jones accompanied his wife to the building a number of times while she was embroiled in a civil case. His blog entry doesn’t make for comfortable reading.
On one of our many visits we found an elderly lady stretched out on the first row of seats, nearest the security door and glass panel, she was incoherent and unable to move. Her 40 year old daughter was yelling at officials behind the glass crying and asking for help. She had bruises to her arms and face. The daughter told us that Heping District Court House Police had punched her and her 82 year old mother in this building. They had told them to go away and die. They would rape her 14 year old daughter they had said. I could not imagine how the old lady would have felt hearing such a threat made against her granddaughter and after suffering such a severe beating.
In 2002, Jia Yongxiang was convicted of bribery and corruption after it was discovered that he had spent a $4,000 employing a fengshui expert to choose the most auspicious date to open the new court building. Along with 14 other officials, he was arrested. Jia and the deputy mayor, Mu Suixin were later executed for what the People's Daily called "taking massive bribes".
If the Chinese are expected justice true and fair, then rotten courts at the center of China’s legal system have a long way to go yet.
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