Chapter 48 Section 48

During the 33-day trial, none of the days was easy. The nine-member public prosecution team headed by Ye Zijing was under great mental pressure in the face of many defendants on the defense bench and a strong defense team.Although the observer units have done their work in accordance with the requirements of the municipal party committee, and the trouble in the court has never happened again, the resistance of the observers in some units is still very high, and booing incidents still occur from time to time.There is no lack of experts among the defendant's lawyers, and the court debates have been very intense, especially in the fact-finding and application of law of malfeasance and abuse of power.When prosecuting a dereliction of duty deputy captain of the fire brigade, even Gao Wenhui, an experienced top ten public prosecutor, fell into a passive position.The deputy team leader was responsible for safety inspections, but he was severely burned during the "August 13" firefighting. The bandage on his neck has not been removed yet. The defender's defense was extremely emotional, and the legal facts stated by Gao Wenhui were discounted invisibly, and it was even considered as "bringing the hero to court."But precisely because of these heated debates, every key detail in the "August 13" case and the legal responsibilities of each defendant were further clarified, which finally provided a sufficient basis for the judgment.

The Intermediate People's Court of Changshan City sentenced Zha Tiezhu to seven years in prison for the crime of arson; Zhou Xiuli was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime of accepting bribes and abusing power and punished for both crimes; Su Afu was sentenced to death for the crime of organizing gangs with a gangster nature, kidnapping and homicide; Tang Wenlin and Yan Ziqing were sentenced to 12 years in prison for the crimes of accepting bribes and abusing power; , sentenced Wang Xiaofeng to 15 years of fixed-term imprisonment; the other 32 defendants involved in the case were also sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of varying terms.Twelve of the defendants who committed the crimes of dereliction of duty and abuse of power were almost all subject to the maximum sentence of the criminal law, seven years in all cases.The injured deputy captain of the fire brigade who neglected his duties also failed to escape the punishment of the law. Although his performance in fighting the fire was considered, he was still sentenced to two years in prison and three years of probation.

It should be said that the judgment of the entire "August 13" case has sufficient legal basis, which is both fair and severe.After the court verdict was announced, 19 defendants, including Zha Tiezhu and Yan Ziqing, pleaded guilty and obeyed the law, and no longer appealed. However, on the issue of Zhou Xiuli's sentencing, the prosecution and the court had major differences.Zhou Xiuli accepted 300,000 yuan in bribes, the applicable sentence was nine years, and the applicable sentence for the crime of abuse of power was seven years, and the combined execution was 15 years. There is no major problem in law.When Zhou Xiuli and her defense lawyer made the final statement, they also contradicted their performance in previous court trials and expressed that they accepted the judgment and obeyed the law.Ye Zijing filed a protest on behalf of the procuratorate, pointing out that although the amount of bribes Zhou Xiuli accepted did not meet the death penalty standard, the consequences of accepting bribes are extremely serious and should be sentenced to death, demanding that Zhou Xiuli's criminal punishment be increased.Zhou Xiuli yelled in the court, saying that Ye Zijing was avenging her personal revenge. After discussing with her two defense lawyers, she changed her attitude of accepting the sentence and obeying the law on the spot, and filed an appeal on the grounds that the sentence was too heavy. .

Zhou Xiuli's reaction was within Ye Zijing's expectations. After submitting the protest letter to the court, Ye Zijing didn't look at Zhou Xiuli again, and led the eight comrades, including Chief Prosecutor Gao Wenhui, to act collectively and leave the prosecution stand together. What happened next was beyond Ye Zijing's expectation. Ye Zijing could never have imagined that at the same time Zhou Xiuli reacted violently, the family members of the fire victims also reacted violently. All the anger was directed at her and the procuratorate. After the verdict was over, they surrounded her, Gao Wenhui and others.

It happened suddenly, without warning.During the 33-day trial, Ye Zijing and the comrades in the Prosecuting Office acted collectively, arriving and leaving in the same van. This Mitsubishi van was parked in the backyard of the People's Theater.But today I can't go.Ye Zijing, Gao Wenhui and others walked out of the back door of the People's Stage and noticed that hundreds of people had gathered in front of the van at some point, and a large blood-red slogan was hung on the van's body: "Blood debts must be repaid with blood, strongly demand Severely punish the murderer Cha Tiezhu!"

Gao Wenhui was quite clever, seeing that something was wrong, he and a few gay men around him protected Ye Zijing and retreated. Ye Zijing was careless and didn't take it seriously, she pushed Gao Wenhui away and said, "What are you afraid of? Let's explain something!" Gao Wenhui said: "Ye Jian, what are you explaining? The judgment is made by the court, and the explanation is the court's interpretation!" At this moment, those men and women gathered on the steps in front of them, surrounded Ye Zijing, and shouted in all directions: "Chief Prosecutor, you have to explain this matter! How did Zha Tiezhu get such a light sentence? How did you sue?" of!"

"One hundred and fifty-six people died, and the sentence was only seven years. Why didn't your procuratorate protest?!" "Ye Zijing, tell me, how much benefit have you and the procuratorate received from Cha Tiezhu and Changshan Mining Group?!" "This Zha Tiezhu has to be sentenced to death, if he doesn't kill him, it won't be enough for the people to be angry!" "Yes, we want Zha Tiezhu to die for those 156 people!" ... In this moment of chaos, Ye Zijing, Gao Wenhui and the comrades in the Prosecution Division were divided and surrounded.Ye Zijing was barely standing on the steps at that time, in a condescending position, and saw with her own eyes that her love general Gao Wenhui was surrounded by the steps three steps away, being pushed and shoved by those excited men and women.

Ye Zijing hadn't thought that something would happen at this time, let alone that someone would attack her at the gate of the court, in a public place where everyone was watching.She was still thinking about explaining, so she waved her hands and called out: "Quiet, everyone, don't be so noisy! If you really want to listen to my explanation, please step aside and step back!" " The crowd in front of them stepped aside and became quieter. Gao Wenhui took the opportunity to get away and squeezed in front of Ye Zijing, using his body to separate the crowd who was close at hand.

Ye Zijing still didn't retreat, pulled Gao Wenhui away, faced the men and women under the steps, and said loudly: "Everyone should find out, what crime did Cha Tiezhu commit? Is it arson? Is it homicide? Neither Everyone has seen the trial process in the court, as well as the witnesses and physical evidence. It was a fire! The maximum sentence for the crime of fire is seven years in prison. One hundred and fifty-six people died, and the court decided to impose a heavier punishment! Our prosecution was not wrong, and the court's judgment was not wrong either!" In the crowd, a young man shouted: "Didn't you say it was arson? How did it turn into a fire?"

Ye Zijing said: "Who said it was arson? If you think it was arson, please show evidence!" The young man squeezed in front of Ye Zijing: "This evidence is up to you, the Chief Prosecutor, as long as you don't cover it up!" Ye Zijing warned: "Young gentleman, I ask you to be careful in what you say, and don't just talk about it!" The young man burst into tears: "I am talking nonsense? My wife was burned to death for no reason, and she was burned to a piece of charcoal. She...she was still pregnant, two lives! Cha Tiezhu was only sentenced to seven years, saying ...does that make sense?"

Immediately before Ye Zijing's eyes, physical evidence photo No. 0334 appeared. It was a photo of a pregnant woman who had been horribly burned. I don't know if it was the young man's wife?His heart softened, and he comforted him kindly: "Young man, don't be so excited, okay? I can understand the feelings of you and the families of the victims! But, the law is the law, and we must enforce the law not in vain or indulgence, right? We We must respect the law, right?" The young man couldn't listen at all, wiped his tears, and yelled recklessly: "Procurator Ye, don't talk so much to me! This Cha Tiezhu will be sentenced to death, and he will be cut into pieces! Don't care if he catches fire or set fire!" Many people also shouted: "Yes, the death penalty, the death penalty!" "You also have to protest against Zha Tiezhu, this matter is not over!" "Zhou Xiuli deserves to die, and so does Zha Tiezhu!" "Zha Tiezhu is the person directly responsible, even more guilty than Zhou Xiuli!" "A life for a life, Zha Tiezhu must be shot one hundred and fifty-six times!" ... Faced with such a situation, Ye Zijing really didn't know what to say, and couldn't help feeling sad: This is another reality that the Chinese legal system must face. People's feelings often replace the law consciously or unconsciously.She never believed that after thirty-three days of trial, the people in front of her still couldn't figure out what the crime of arson was.The only explanation can only be that when people's feelings conflict with the law, the legal awareness is weak, or even non-existent!This is actually another challenge to the law, a very common challenge.It is precisely because of the long-term existence of this kind of challenge that there has been a human tragedy similar to that old woman and child buried alive in the history of the Republic! Ye Zijing didn't want to explain any more, and rushed here and there with Gao Wenhui amidst the hustle and bustle. The family members of the victims quit, making noise and blocking everywhere, neither letting Ye Zijing and Gao Wenhui return to the People's Stage, nor letting Ye Zijing and Gao Wenhui approach the van more than ten steps away.The assassination of Ye Zijing happened at this time: someone took advantage of the confusion and stabbed Ye Zijing's buttocks with a triangular scraper.After Ye Zijing was stabbed, she didn't realize it for a while, and she still walked a few steps amidst the pushing and shoving of the victims' family members. It was a woman behind Ye Zijing who screamed first: "Blood! There...someone stabbed the Chief Prosecutor!" Almost at the same time, severe pain swept over, and Ye Zijing realized that she had been plotted against. Turning her head, she saw that the trousers on her left leg were soaked in blood. As if they heard some order, the men and women surrounding Ye Zijing backed away in horror. At this time, someone shouted: "The murderer is among us, close the door quickly, and don't let the murderer escape!" Many people just woke up like a dream, and cooperated with the comrades in the prosecution department and the bailiffs of several courts to close the gate of the backyard and the two side doors leading to the People's Stage.At this moment, Ye Zijing fell softly into Gao Wenhui's arms. Gao Wenhui couldn't believe the reality in front of him, he hugged Ye Zijing who was covered in blood, not knowing what to say. Around me, many family members of the victims started talking again: "Ye Jian, we didn't do this!" "Ye Jian, we have objections to the verdict, but we won't attack you. You didn't cause the fire!" "That's right, that's right. Ye Jian, no matter how big our opinions are, we wouldn't do that!" ... Gao Wenhui couldn't take it anymore, covered Ye Zijing's bleeding wound, and cried out with tears in his eyes: "Okay, okay! You all shut up! Didn't you make such a fuss around like this, can something like this happen? Get out of here , go away!" Ye Zijing felt that Gao Wenhui was too rude, and asked Gao Wenhui not to say anything, and said a few words to the family members of the victims in front of her weakly: "Everyone... don't be afraid! I know in my heart, this... This kind of thing is not You did it! But you also...you must know it in your heart, you must never replace the law with emotion..." At this point, Ye Zijing passed out due to excessive blood loss and fatigue during the trial.