Is "a woman killed for infertility" just abuse?

  A 22-year-old girl died.

The cause of her death was not illness or accident, but abuse by her in-laws and husband.

Because of her inability to get pregnant and other reasons, Fang Mouyang, a girl from Fangzhuang Village, Dezhou, Shandong, was "battered, frozen, hungry, and confined" by her husband's "physical and mental devastation" after she got married for six months, January 2019 He was beaten to death on the 31st.

  The Shandong Yucheng People’s Court of the first instance found that “Fang Mouyang suffered multiple blunt external forces on the basis of malnutrition, resulting in a large area of ​​soft tissue contusion and death all over his body” and sentenced Zhang Moulin (Fang Mouyang’s father-in-law) to fixed-term imprisonment for abuse. For three years, Liu Mouying (Fang Mouyang's mother-in-law) had two years and two months' imprisonment, and Zhang (Fang Mouyang's husband) had two years' imprisonment and three years' probation.

After the verdict was exposed, it caused controversy in the society.

On the evening of November 17, the People's Court of Yucheng City notified the relevant situation, stating that it would retry the case in strict accordance with the law.

  The crime of abuse in the Criminal Law is aimed at the abuse of family members. If this case is recognized as a crime of domestic abuse, then even if there is a serious consequence of Fang Mouyang being abused to death, the maximum sentence will not exceed 7 years. imprisonment.

Looking at the judgment of the first instance, Zhang Moulin and Liu Mouying’s sentences were both more than two years, and it seemed that they were within the range of reasonable sentences. There was nothing wrong with them.

  According to the facts ascertained by the local judicial organs, due to the conflicts between the victim’s body and Fang’s family members, since July 2018, the defendants Zhang Moulin, Liu Mouying, and Zhang Mouyang have faced each other many times. Abusive behaviors such as hungry stomachs, beating Fang with wooden sticks, and punishment stations outside the house in winter resulted in "malnutrition" of the victim. According to family members, "there was more than 160 catties when they married, and only more than 60 catties when they died." According to the above "bad circumstances", the defendant concerned is indeed suspected of abusing the crime.

  However, in addition to the long-term abuse, the more direct cause of the death of the victim Fang Mouyang was that the defendant beat Fang Mouyang several times on January 31, 2019, resulting in "death from extensive soft tissue contusions all over his body."

Based on this behavior, the defendant was also suspected of deliberately injuring crime.

According to the Criminal Law, those who intentionally injure someone else’s body "causing serious injury to a person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years." "Whoever causes death or severely injures a person by special cruel means causing serious disability shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment. Or the death penalty".

In this case, if the crime of intentional injury is convicted, the starting point of the defendant should be at least ten years.

If the crime of ill-treatment and the crime of intentional injury are both punished, the sentence will only be higher.

  Perhaps the defendant will argue that he is just venting his inner dissatisfaction and has no intention of intentionally hurting the victim, causing him serious injury or death.

Indeed, the difference between the crime of torture and the crime of intentional injury is mainly due to the different subjective purposes, but this cannot be determined in one word, but depends on the consequences of the crime and the specific circumstances.

If it's just a slight beating, if there is no unbridled subjective malignancy, can it cause such serious consequences?

  Not only that, the "light punishment" for the victim's in-laws and the "probation" for the victim's husband Zhang are worthy of "examination".

The truthful confession of the criminal facts is only to determine the circumstances, not the statutory circumstances, and the wrongdoing cannot influence the sentencing.

As for the voluntary prepayment of RMB 50,000 in compensation, it is also the proper meaning of atonement in accordance with the law.

Although criminals with a fixed-term imprisonment of less than three years are within the scope of probation, they must also meet the following four requirements: minor crimes, repentance, no danger of re-offending, and probation that has no major adverse effects on the community where they live. condition.

As far as this case is concerned, Zhang's abuse of his wife is hard to say, "the crime is less serious" and there is no "recurring danger". It is indeed wrong to decide to probate his sentence.

  Judicial justice cannot tolerate the slightest flaw.

According to the law, “a higher-level people’s court has the right to bring a trial or order a lower-level people’s court to retry if it finds errors in a judgment, ruling, or mediation statement that has become legally effective against a lower-level people’s court.”

Shandong Yucheng People’s Court was ordered by a higher court to retry the case, hoping to take the law as the criterion and facts as the basis to give people the justice that people expect.

  Liu Tingting Source: China Youth Daily (Version 02, November 20, 2020)