Time and Space Observation丨The person who insulted and slandered Jiang Ge was sentenced to one and a half years. Where is the boundary of online speech?
Four years have passed since the sensational Jiang Ge case, but related reputation rights and other cases are still fermenting.
Yesterday (October 27), a case of insulting and slandering Jiang Ge and his mother was sentenced in the second instance of Shanghai Second Intermediate Court.
Netizen Tan Bin was sued by Jiang Qiulian, Jiang's mother, for insults and defamation, for publishing articles and cartoons related to Jiang Ge's case on Weibo.
The second instance ruled to uphold the first instance verdict. The defendant Tan Bin was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment for insults and nine months’ imprisonment for defamation. He was sentenced to a combined sentence for several crimes and decided to execute one year and six months’ imprisonment.
On November 3, 2016, Jiang Ge was killed by his roommate Liu Xin's ex-boyfriend Chen Shifeng while studying in Japan.
This case has aroused widespread attention and comments from netizens, and even spread out with false rumors and rumors, which also caused the victim's family to be hit hard.
Netizen Tan Bin in this case is one of these malicious slanders.
The court found that:
On February 25, 2018, Tan Bin posted a series of comics created by others through a Sina Weibo account, openly vilifying Jiang Qiulian's image and insulting Jiang Qiulian's personality.
After notarization, the series of comics has been viewed more than 24,600 times;
On September 25, 2018 and October 18, 2018, Tan Bin posted two blog posts successively through the Sina Weibo account, and attached photos of Jiang Ge's legacy, insulting Jiang Qiulian;
From September 24 to October 30, 2018 and from March 12 to March 15, 2019, Tan Bin posted 17 short posts on Weibo through his Weibo account, continuously insulting Jiang Qiulian;
On February 12, 2018 and March 15, 2019, Tan Bin also posted articles that fabricated facts through his Sina Weibo account.
Uphold the original sentence Tan Bin sentenced to one year and six months
The Second Intermediate People’s Court of Shanghai held that after Tan Bin learned of Jiang Ge’s murder in Japan, instead of showing sympathy, he began to conduct online investigations on Jiang Qi and Jiang Qiulian, who had never known each other, through the Internet. Insult, slander, openly devalue, damage the personality of others, damage the reputation of others, the circumstances are serious, their behavior has constituted a crime of insult, slander, and should be punished for several crimes in accordance with the law.
The court of first instance sentenced Tan Bin to one year’s imprisonment for insult and nine months’ imprisonment for defamation, and decided to execute one year and six months’ imprisonment.
After the verdict was pronounced in the first instance, the private prosecutor Jiang Qiulian and the defendant Tan Bin both appealed to the Shanghai Second Intermediate Court.
On October 27, the Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court rejected the appeals of both parties and upheld the original judgment.
The judge of second instance explained in detail why the case upheld the original verdict?
After the judgment of the first instance of the case was pronounced, the defendant Tan Bin once stated that the content he posted on the Internet was not original, but was a piece of other people's views. He had regretted it and was willing to pay financial compensation, so he should be punished lightly, so he filed an appeal.
So why is the case up to the original verdict?
The reporter interviewed the judge of second instance.
Zhang Zheng, vice president of Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court: As an adult, the defendant Tan Bin should have the ability to distinguish right from wrong and should be responsible for his actions.
Therefore, the defendant Tan Bin argued that he was influenced by others to participate in the online scolding war, and it was untenable to use this as a mitigation (penalty) reason, so the court did not support it.
In addition, the defendant said that he had repented and he was willing to make financial compensation. Can it be the basis for the judgment?
The judge said that Tan Bin’s content on the Internet had already affected the victim, and at the same time, Jiang Qiulian’s understanding was not obtained.
Freedom of speech has boundaries, the Internet is not a place outside the law
Zhang Zheng, vice president of Shanghai Second Intermediate People's Court: (Tan Bin defamation)'s articles have been viewed more than 420,000 times on the Internet, and they have caused Jiang Qiulian's post-traumatic depression.
We believe that the judgment in this case actually conveyed to the society that the Internet is not a place outside the law, and all netizens on the Internet should also know the law and abide by the law. At the same time, the judgment of our case is against cyber violence. The regulation has also played a role as a benchmark.
If you hurt someone online, even though you have regretted it, the impact and harm you caused to the victim is irreparable.
The judge hopes to use this verdict as a benchmark to warn against insults, rumors and other online violence.
Insults and slander all infringe on human dignity in different ways
The right to personal dignity is the basic right of every citizen. The Constitution clearly states: "The personal dignity of citizens of the People's Republic of China shall not be violated. It is prohibited to use any method to insult, slander, and falsely accuse citizens." Insults and defamation are all violations of citizen personality Dignity, the biggest difference between them is that they act in different ways: insults are violent or other methods that openly demean others' personality and damage their reputations, and the circumstances are serious; while slander is manifested as fabricating and spreading fictional facts.
In this case, the defendant blatantly abused and attacked Jiang Qiulian on the Internet, which was an insult; the fabricated plot spreading out of nothing was defamation, so the court sentenced several crimes and punished them together.
In fact, our Civil Law, Public Security Administration Punishment Law, and Criminal Law all use different methods to regulate behaviors that infringe upon the dignity of citizens, and most of our common online insults and defamation cases remain in civil disputes, and criminal penalties are rare.
Because the most severe criminal method is aimed at serious insults and slander.
Specifically, in crimes committed through the Internet, the number of clicks or the number of times the defendant’s information has been forwarded is one of the important basis for judging whether the circumstances are serious.
In this case, the defendant published an article on the Internet, and the number of hits ranged from thousands to tens of thousands.
Expert opinion: What kind of online behavior will be sentenced?
In addition to the number of clicks and forwards, what other measures are there for "serious circumstances"?
What kind of online insults and defamation will be sentenced?
Legal expert: Yue Chushan: Generally speaking, civil torts are to stop the infringement, apologize, eliminate the impact, restore reputation, etc., but if it is more serious, it may even involve violations of the relevant provisions of the Public Security Management Penalty Law, a more serious one. This may constitute a crime.
According to Article 264 of the Criminal Law, violent or other methods that openly insult others or fabricate facts to slander others are sentenced to not more than three years in prison, criminal detention, surveillance, or deprivation of political power if the circumstances are serious.
If you use the Internet to slander others, and the same defamatory information is actually clicked and viewed more than 5000 times, or reposted more than 500 times, it can be deemed as serious and may be held criminally responsible; If the defamatory information causes serious consequences such as mental disorders of the victim or close relatives, self-harm, suicide, or other administrative punishments for defamation within two years and defamation of others, these circumstances may be held criminally responsible.
One thing to note in particular: both the originator and the forwarder may be liable, because the forwarder should have a preliminary judgment on the matter. If it is obviously insulting language or obviously defamatory language to others, the forwarder still insists on forwarding it. At this time, it is likely to be responsible.
"Internet defamation" imprisoned in a private prosecution to pursue criminal responsibility for the slanderer
It is not a new rule that fabricates and spreads false facts on the Internet and damages the reputation of others, which constitutes a crime of defamation.
In 2013, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate clarified the conviction criteria for "Internet defamation": If the same defamatory information is clicked, viewed more than 5,000 times, or reposted more than 500 times, it can be sentenced. , And those who knowingly defamation still provide help are punished as joint crimes.
Despite this, why are there "keyboard guys" trying by themselves?
What is the warning significance of this judgment?
Legal expert: Yue Dishan: If you encounter similar situations in the future, you must take up legal weapons to protect yourself.
Both insults and defamation are self-reported cases, and you need to go to the People's Court to file criminal proceedings yourself.
This case warns all perpetrators of infringement not only need to apologize to others, and even be held criminally responsible if the circumstances are serious.
The verdict of the case played a certain role in cleaning up and purifying the cyberspace in the future, and also warned everyone to be cautious in their own speeches, do not use excessive language, do not use insulting and defamatory language, and do not conduct personal attacks on others.