Appeal of man sentenced for defamation rejected
Print Edition
THE Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court yesterday upheld the one-and-a-half-year jail term of a man for insulting and defaming the mother of a Chinese student who was murdered in Japan in a widely followed case.
On November 3, 2016, a 24-year-old Chinese student Jiang Ge was murdered in Tokyo by another Chinese man Chen Shifeng, who was the former boyfriend of Chen’s roommate, Liu Xin. Chen was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Tokyo District Court.
The case had stirred strong emotions in China.
Jiang’s mother, Jiang Qiulian, took to social media, and blamed her daughter’s roommate Liu for her death. She claimed that Liu had locked Jiang out of the apartment when she was attacked. The bereaved mother also posted Liu’s personal information online in an attempt to confront her to come out with the “truth.”
But her postings and outspokenness also drew the ire of netizens, some of whom accused her of trying to cash in on the tragedy.
One of them was Tan Bin, or Posh-Bin on Weibo.
According to the court, on February 25, 2018, Tan posted a series of comics created by others on his Weibo account, which caricatured the mother and insulted her. The comics had been viewed more than 24,600 times.
Between September 25 and October 18, he posted two articles on Weibo which suggested that Jiang Ge was cursed to die and asked mother Jiang to shut up or commit suicide.
Tan then posted a picture of Jiang Ge and labeled her a “bitch” who “deserves to die.” He described Jiang Qiulian as a “hussy” and “poor but detestable person” in the articles.
He also fabricated stories about the murder. An earlier judgment showed that Chen wanted to kill his ex-girlfriend Liu and Jiang Ge was the innocent victim who happened to be at the scene. However, in a story Tan posted between February 12, 2018 and March 15, 2019 to give “some insights on Jiang Qiulian’s lies,” he alleged that Jiang Ge was Chen’s rival in love, and that was why she was killed. The story was viewed over 340,000 times.
The Putuo District People’s Court sentenced Tan to one and a half years in jail for crimes of insult and defamation.
Both Jiang Qiulian and Tan later filed appeals. Jiang Qiulian claimed that Tan should also be charged for falsely claiming that she cheated others out of donations over her daughter’s death.
Tan tried to seek a lenient penalty by claiming that his bias toward the mother was influenced by others. He said the comics and articles were all materials he collected from postings on Weibo.
The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court rejected both the appeals and upheld the previous ruling.
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