20 years ago, he was sentenced to death with a suspended death sentence for the murder of his wife and child. New progress has been made in the case of Li Yuqian in Liupanshui City, Guizhou Province.
On May 6, The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) learned from Li Yu’s former petition agents Wang Wanqiong and Xu Xin that Liupanshui City People’s Procuratorate (hereinafter referred to as: Liupanshui City Procuratorate) had recently been the second defendant in this case, Meng Ruihong. The prosecution charge has been changed.
The Liupanshui City Procuratorate issued a decision to change the prosecution on April 10, showing that after Li Yuqian's intentional murder and Meng Ruihong's case were remanded for retrial, the original indictment revealed that the defendant Meng Ruihong's accusation was wrong.
The Liupanshui City Procuratorate believes that Meng Ruihong helped Li Yuqian destroy the body. The circumstances were serious. His behavior violated Article 307, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Law. The facts of the crime were clear and the evidence was indeed sufficient. He should be investigated for the crime of helping to destroy the evidence.
Therefore, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, the decision was made to change the suit, and at the same time, the unmodified part of the original indictment still has legal effect.
Xu Xin told The Paper that it has been more than half a year since the case was sent back for retrial. During this period, there was basically no new progress in the reinvestigation of the case in Liupanshui.
The Paper noted that according to the Criminal Law, the maximum penalty for the crime of sheltering is not more than ten years imprisonment, and the maximum penalty for the crime of helping to destroy forged evidence is not more than three years imprisonment.
Xu Xin said that as the most important defendant in this case, if Meng Ruihong fully cooperates with the prosecution’s allegations, the possibility of fact finding will be greatly reduced. “But we will still insist on defending Li Yuqian’s innocence. If we still cannot change the status quo, I can only wait for him to finish serving his sentence, and then call out injustice for himself."
Li Yushan's former second brother, Li Yushan, revealed that as of now, Li Yu's remaining sentence has more than one year, and it is expected that he will be released in the second half of 2022.
Cadre accused of killing his wife and child, conspiring with his lover to burn the corpse, the final sentence has been suspended
The Paper previously reported that in March 2001, a bizarre "wives and sons murder" occurred in Liupanshui City.
On March 21 of that year, Li Yuqian, then director of the cast iron workshop and party branch secretary of the Liupanshui Shuicheng Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd., reported to the police that his wife Xie Chuming and his son Li Minghao had been missing since the early morning of March 20.
He also provided clues to the police, claiming that Meng Ruihong, a female ironworks worker who had a relationship with his lover, was suspected of committing a major crime.
Following the investigation of the case, the police identified the suspects as Li Yuqian and Meng Ruihong.
The prosecution alleged that in the early morning of March 20, 2001, after Li Yuqian drank and went home, he saw Xie Chuming ignored him. Thinking of the recent discord between the two, he strangled her to death and strangled her with a pillow and was awakened. Son Li Minghao.
At about 9 o'clock that night, Li Yu approached his extramarital lover Meng Ruihong, and the two dismembered the body together and put them in 4 woven bags.
Subsequently, Meng Ruihong transferred Xie Chuming's body parts to the blast furnace of the ironworks for incineration in batches using a basket.
On September 10, 2001, the Liupanshui City Intermediate People's Court made a judgment of first instance and found that Li Yuqian constituted intentional homicide, sentenced to death and deprived of political rights for life; Meng Ruihong constituted a crime of asylum and sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Li Yuqian refused to accept and lodged an appeal.
On November 20, 2001, the Guizhou Provincial Higher People's Court ruled that the case was sent back to the Liupanshui City Intermediate People's Court for retrial on the grounds of "unclear facts and insufficient evidence".
On December 1, 2003, the Liupanshui City Intermediate Court made another first-instance verdict. Li Yuqian was still convicted of intentional homicide, but was sentenced to death with a suspended sentence; Meng Ruihong was sentenced to eight years for the crime of asylum.
Li Yuqian still refused to accept it and appealed again. On October 12, 2004, the Guizhou Provincial Higher People's Court made a final ruling and upheld the original verdict.
Sent back for retrial after 19 years of injustice
After being imprisoned, Li Yuqian continued to appeal.
The parents of the victim Xie Chuming, Xie Honglu and Zhang Linhe, also traveled to and from Dafang County and Liupanshui City to appeal to government departments at all levels. This surprised the staff who received them: "I have never seen the victim's family claim grievance for the'murderer'. "
Wang Wanqiong told The Paper that there was no physical evidence in the case, and the verdict was based solely on the inconsistent confessions of Li Yuqian and Meng Ruihong, and there were many contradictions between the two defendants' confessions, Li Yuqian's confession before and after, and witness testimony.
In April 2016, after Li Yu's previous case was reported by the media, it attracted public attention.
In May of the same year, the Guizhou Provincial Higher People's Court decided to initiate a retrial, and the retrial will be held in September 2020.
At the scene of the retrial court, Li Yuqian's defender presented 12 sets of new evidence to the court, proving that Li Yuqian was not likely to commit a crime from various aspects such as the time and motive of the crime.
In his final statement, Li Yuqian said that because of his fault, his mother-in-law's family suffered unbearable harm, and he couldn't pay for it with any money, and he was willing to make up for it with his remaining life.
The Guizhou Provincial Procuratorate’s prosecutors said in their opinion that the prosecution has no objection to the contradictions and deficiencies in the existing evidence presented by the lawyers in this case, but the prosecution still believes that the confessions of Li Yuqian and Meng Ruihong are still mutually corroborating.
On September 28, 2020, the Guizhou Provincial Higher People's Court publicly pronounced a verdict on Li Yuqian's intentional homicide, ruled to revoke the original first and second instance judgments and sent back to Liupanshui City Intermediate People's Court for a new trial.
The Guizhou Provincial Higher People's Court found that the original first-instance procedure violated the relevant procedural regulations for witnesses to testify, appraisal conclusion presentation, and re-appraisal. The original judgment found that Li Yuqian's intentional murder was suspicious and contradictory, which may affect a fair trial.
The prosecution changes the second defendant’s charge
Seven months after the retrial was sent back, the Liupanshui City Procuratorate made a decision to change the prosecution of Li Yu's previous case on April 10, changing the indictment charge of Meng Ruihong from the previous crime of sheltering to the crime of helping to destroy evidence.
The decision to change the prosecution showed that after the case of Li Yuqian's intentional murder and Meng Ruihong's case was sent back for retrial, it was found after review that the original indictment had incorrectly identified the defendant Meng Ruihong's guilt.
The Liupanshui City Procuratorate believes that Meng Ruihong helped Li Yuqian destroy the body. The circumstances were serious. His behavior violated Article 307, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Law. The facts of the crime were clear and the evidence was indeed sufficient. He should be investigated for the crime of helping to destroy the evidence.
Therefore, in accordance with Article 176 of the Criminal Procedure Law and Article 423 of the Criminal Procedure Rules of the People's Procuratorate, the decision was made to change the prosecution.
At the same time, the unaltered part of the original indictment still has legal effect.
According to Li Yu’s former complaining agent, within 7 months after the case was returned for retrial, Liupanshui carried out a lot of examination work, and conducted a large amount of examination work on Meng Ruihong and Li Yu’s former colleagues, neighbors, and inmates who had been detained together after the case. Asked, but did not interrogate Meng Ruihong himself.
Li Yushan, Li Yu's former second brother, told The Paper that he had received a family call from Li Yuqian from prison in early April this year.
Li Yuqian told his family that in mid-March this year, he received the transfer materials from the case-handling agency to the prison, saying that during the review after the retrial, the public security agency retrieved 76 copies from his home (the first scene identified by the original judgment). Of the biological samples, two of them have undergone DNA identification. The identification results prove that the two samples are genetically related to the family of the victim, Xie Chuming.
According to the case file, in addition to the confession, the physical evidence of this case includes the blood stains of Xie Chuming found on the floor of Li Yuqian's home, the mop and the floor of Room 304, and two blood fingerprints on the wall of Li Yuqian's bedroom.
Prior identification has confirmed that both blood fingerprints belong to Meng Ruihong.
Xu Xin believes that it has been more than half a year since the case was sent back for retrial. During this period, there has been no substantial progress in the reinvestigation of the case in Liupanshui.
The Paper noted that according to the Criminal Law, the maximum penalty for the crime of sheltering is not more than ten years imprisonment, and the maximum penalty for the crime of helping to destroy forged evidence is not more than three years imprisonment.
"This means that the Liupanshui prosecutor has decided to reduce the penalty for Meng Ruihong, who has been sentenced to 8 years in prison, by changing the crime." Xu Xin said.
Xu Xin said that as the most important defendant in this case, if Meng Ruihong fully cooperates with the prosecution’s allegations, the possibility of fact finding will be greatly reduced, “but we will still insist on defending Li Yuqian’s innocence. If the status quo cannot be changed, I can only wait for him to finish serving his sentence, and then call out injustice for himself."
Li Yushan told The Paper that as of May this year, Li Yu had more than one year left before his sentence, and he is expected to be released after serving his sentence in the second half of 2022.
Both Li Yuqian himself and his family members will continue to appeal, "If you don't correct it, you will never give up."
Wei Jiaming